DBV Series 5: Zerg Wars II: Swirling Destinies
by Verto-Briefs
Summary: The entire 2nd part of the Zerg wars in the alternate dimension. New faces, old rivals and new powers are unleashed in this explosive, emotional and tragic sequel. Will the Z gang find Verto and destroy the Zerg, or will everything fall into darkness?
1. Prologue: A Burning Past

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**VERY A/U (alternate universe for those of you who can't figure that out!)**

**Dragonball Verto Series 5: Zerg Wars 2: Swirling Destinies**

**Prologue: A Burning Past and the Winds of Change**

"Are you ready to proceed?" the shadowy form asked. I couldn't help but sulk a bit in the presence of the lifeless body before me. I had barely known her, and yet it was if I had spent a lifetime with her watching over me from afar.

"Can I have a few minutes?" I asked.

"Take all the time you need. I will be above, I sense our time is running thin," he said, leaving the room quickly. The door remained open, but the light had long sense faded out, more than likely due to the recent loss of its caretaker. I lost track of the one who had brought me here quickly as he left the area, leaving me in a slowly darkening room as the torches around me slowly began to fade to blackness one by one. Ten in all, some yellow and some blue, all of them destined to fade out like so many I had seen. All of them passed into the winds of change much like my life as I reflected upon it.

_Nothing ever stops these thoughts and the pain attached to them._

_Sometimes I wonder why this is happening._

_It's like nothing I could do could distract me when,_

_I think of how I shot myself in the back again._

_Cause from the infinite words I could say,_

_I put all the pain you gave to me on display._

_But didn't realize, instead of setting it free,_

_I took what I hated and made it a part of me!_

_It never goes away…_

_One._ I thought about my previous life. It seemed so long ago that I left my planet, and yet it had only been about two years including the time in the hyperbolic chamber. My human mother and all my loved ones from there, my friends that may or may not have been there for me. I felt I had not always been there for them and that I should have been.

_Two._ All of that life, gone in barely forty-eight hours. My life completely changed and flip flopped. Everything I had dear was taken, no, stolen from me by a heartless monster. To have that back, I was sure I would sacrifice anything to do it.

_Three._ A new life, supposedly given to me by that same monster that had stolen my old one. New family and new friends, eventually I would care for them in the same way. I had to give up that old part of me to realize and gain the new one. That seemed to have healed my damaged soul in a way that I had never realized until now.

_Four._ Losing that new family igniting a new spark in me during the Majin Buu crisis. That fact that the Supreme Kai had blocked my mind from accessing what may transpire became a prime factor in the slow release of my hidden potential. Another monster was trying to take my family and friends away, and I fought against it along side of them, eventually winning.

_Five._ A series of strange twists regarding my life and my potential. My more potent Saiyan aspects were made known to me by negative emotions that as I understood were supposed to be held back and in check. Trying to be the good-hearted warrior was impossible because I never understood how to deal with conflicting emotions that built up over time. Not too mention the sharpening of my body and soul without that time and experience. I almost feared what may have happened if Old Kai had released all of my power at once.

_Six._ My mind, body and soul restored after some horrific things had been done to my enemies whether they deserved it or not. Once again a child, but once again forced to go through the stress of dealing with a threat to love and peace. A trait I will probably have forever. Maybe now, for the first time, I will truly understand what my life will consist of from now on.

_Seven. _The Zerg. I could write several books on them just based on opinion from what I knew now. I had always known that they were a threat to peace. Their chaotic and consuming will to please their master the Overmind, the driving force behind them. And what I went through and learned during my capture was potentially more frightening that any scenario that death could bestow upon me. The single worst thing that came from it was knowing that my greatest fear and possibly most dangerous enemy was not the Overmind at all…

_And now…_

_You become a part of me, you'll always be right here_

_You become a part of me, you'll always be my fear_

_I can't separate, myself from what I've done_

_Giving up a part of me, I've let myself become you!_

**A/N: Strong opening eh? See if you can figure out **_**whom**_** I'm talking about before I get there.**

**If you haven't read the previous 4 Sagas, STOP HERE! Go back and read up on the story so you aren't lost.**


	2. The Truth From the Eye

**Well, here we are again at the crossroads of another hopeful story. And we've got Series 5 lined up for ya now. I will be nice enough to answer reviews for the previous chapters this time, though I prefer to email them. Those will be posted after a chapter rather than the classic beforehand. I figure yall didn't click the next chapter button just to read a bunch of answered questions. That's another thing, if you ask a question and don't get a response to it, the answer is probably coming up. I'll do my best to keep up with any and all questions you may have, as long as we can keep them spoiler proof…unless you really want to know that badly.**

**We will be starting off with Verto's first days with the Zerg. And as one might imagine it won't be easy for him to deal with. Meanwhile Vegeta and the others head out with Tassadar to try to find him. And don't forget Judicator Aldaris, who is very thirsty for power and will likely do anything to achieve it. Expect quite a few plot twists.**

**This series will be transitional between the different groups of the story, mostly Verto, with all of them coming together towards the end for the climax. For most of the first half of the series hits on Verto with the Zerg and the others (allies and enemies) looking for him. This is a very dark saga compared to the previous ones.**

**Rated PG 13-R/T-M for violence, gore, language, etc. If there was a PG16 I'd probably put it there.**

"Blah blah blah" = regular communication

"_Blah blah blah"_ = telepathic communication or from an outside source (TV/radio)

_Blah blah blah _ = solo thoughts

**There will not be many power levels posted, as most Zerg or Protoss do not have them, at the end they become a little more relevant.**

**And as always, I don't own anything nor claim the rights.**

**Part 1: Infestation**

**Theme Song: "Figure.09" by Linkin Park**.

**Chapter 1: Truth from the Eye**

"How much longer do I have to stay in this crap?" I asked. The Zerg temptress Sarah Kerrigan gave off a look that seemed to be a cross of a grin and a scowl at the same time.

"Don't like it in there?" she asked. I glared at her slightly. I had been in the green pod of fluid for five weeks now by her count, including the three I wasn't awake for. The only thing that was nice about it was the soothing fluid in there healed my wounds, slowly. It probably would have gone faster, but I was certain they were weaving new DNA strands and Zerg tissue through me, much to my chagrin. Something strange about it was that I could breathe the fluid and it wouldn't make me choke. Kerrigan explained that the fluid would oxygenate my lungs in place of air while I was under its surface. She had taken off the ki restriction collar once I assured her I wouldn't go off like a cannon. I really didn't have a choice, we were in space and my senses quickly assured me that she wasn't lying about that. However I could rarely sleep once I first awoke and the constant close quarters were starting to make me a bit claustrophobic. That and my stomach was finally starting to growl a little.

"Well I suppose you can come out for a little while. You should be strong enough for today anyway," she moped a bit saying that, but clearly not serious.

"I feel fine, let me out or I'll let myself out!" I warned.

"Alright already, sheesh! I've never had a patient as pushy as you before!" she said, as she fussed with something along the side of the pod. The fluid then drained and the front of the thing opened up, allowing me to climb out. I stood up and stretched a bit, glad to be out of the hole as I had called it. I turned back to look at my confinements, seeing that it resembled a large egg. Very similar to a Zerg minion egg, except it was filled with the green fluid and open at the top.

"That better?" she asked.

"Much, now for some food," I said giving her a grin. She looked a bit alarmed, but handed me something that resembled a small crocodile, only it was about ten inches long and very raw.

"Eat this, it should fill you up," she said, practically shoving it into my hand.

I glanced up at her, "Do you realize how much a Saiyan eats?"

"Yes, but this meat is pretty filling to any creature, now eat up!"

I stared at it for a moment, "It ain't gonna poison me or something is it?"

She exhaled harshly in exasperation, "No, its just food!" I grinned at her frown as she put her hands on her hips.

"Hope you don't mind if I give it a good zap first. I can't stand cold, uncooked food!" I said, drawing up a bit of ki.

"Do that and that meat will be worthless and you'll still be hungry. There's a special nutrient in the animal that provides most of the body's needs, even for you Saiyans. Zap it and it dissipates!" she said, scowling more.

"Ugh," I wrinkled my nose, giving it another look over. Then I raised it to my mouth and dug into it. It tasted awful, and I quickly chewed and swallowed just to get the taste out of my mouth. Kerrigan looked mildly amused at this.

"How can you eat that shit?" I asked, spitting a few leftovers that made themselves present.

"I make due. Come, we are to meet the Overmind and the Cerebrates today. They are all in council now waiting on us!" She started towards what resembled a wall, and amazingly it opened for her. However I didn't move, there was still something missing.

"I don't suppose I can have some clothes can I?" I asked. She looked puzzled for a second before laughing loudly.

"What's wrong, you think they are going to care whether you're naked or clothed? Believe me they don't, none of us wear any such thing," she said grinning. She appeared to have on some sort of black battle uniform.

"Then what are you wearing, looks like a uniform to me," I said, pointing.

"This? No, this is an organic form of armor that has grown on top of my skin and fused permanently with it. It doesn't hide as much as it seems at first glance," she explained. I wrinkled my nose slightly when I realized that.

"Whatever, its better than nothing!" I said, losing my patience quickly.

"Well, if you really want it you can have what you were wearing when I busted you out of the stasis chamber. I'm afraid the top of it is pretty much shredded!" Kerrigan compromised.

"That's okay, I only wanted the bottom part anyway," I said, blushing slightly. She tossed them to me from what seemed to be some sort of storage compartment, only it was embedded into the wall and reformed into it when she pulled my pants out. Slipping on the Saiyan spandex, I felt at least a little relieved. Then I took note of the fact that my tail was now a green color.

"And this?" I asked, giving her a sharp eyebrow as I held it in my hands.

"Oh that, well its in case you run off and we can't find you. It'll act like a homing beacon to you and the Zerg, and it's the start of your infestation process," she said with a grin.

"Like I would want to return once I break out of here," I muttered. I didn't mean for her to hear me but she did.

"Good luck doing that, it also acts as a form of control. Try and get away and it can release a toxic poison into your bloodstream that will kill you within five minutes if the anti-toxin isn't released as well. It does other things as well, only the Overmind and the Cerebrate can cause those things to happen, so watch it!" she said, turning towards the door. _Ah, Damn!_

"Oh one more thing, you probably won't like walking around barefoot for awhile," she said, opening a different organic panel on the wall. Inside were my Saiyan style boots that were custom made for my feet. Only they had suffered through a few bouts of slimy brown crap dripping on and inside them. I was amazed that they didn't smell really bad, but then again I probably wasn't going to be able to detect a stench when it was all around me for a long duration.

"Come on, time to go," Kerrigan said, motioning her way with her hand as I slipped on the boots.

-

We walked through all kinds of twisted halls of whatever we were in. She said it was a primary hive cluster but was deemed a Super Hive so the Overmind could fit in it as well, claiming that they had formed one on earth before departure. It allowed for more face-to-face meetings with his Cerebrates, or so she said. It also allowed all of them to travel as one whole rather than separate, which I could see as being handy, like a big spaceship. I took note of a few little Zerg warriors running about, but very few. We must have walked a few miles of twisted corridors before arriving to a slightly lighter chamber. I detected a lot of energy in the room, but not much in the way of physical presence. It was just a lot of power, both ki and Psi. I had begun to grow accustomed to sensing both energies from just about every living being, except the Zerg in general. The Protoss had more of a direct Psi signature that was almost cold to my senses, like a brisk wind almost. Most humans felt like they had a twin next to them when I sensed their energies, depending on the amount of power they possessed. When it came to Saiyans however, the ki signal was so much higher in comparison to the almost non-existent Psi signal, for obvious reasons regarding training and such. It wasn't that Saiyans didn't possess pure spirit energy; it was the inability to access it and channel it. Inside the chamber were some sort of giant pink eye that was strapped to a wall by what seemed to be many strong muscles, tendons and ligaments. Kind of like an actual human eye with the strings attached, only a hell of a lot larger. Instead of white there was pink, and darker red for the pupil color. There were also many large, colored egg pods that had single eyes sticking out of them as well as well. There was a blue one, an orange one, and a purple one in front of the big eye, the rest were back behind.

"Ah Kerrigan, thank you for bringing the boy," a loud voice spoke, about making my ears shake off. The way the eye bobbled about, I would guess that it was the Overmind that spoke, and it had the most energy that I could sense. It's signal didn't have two separate energies however, just one big mixed energy signal. To anyone else it would probably feel like a really high ki signal, I was one of few that would be able to tell. The huge eye seemed to stretch over towards me and look me over. The damn thing had to be as big as a table, the other lesser eyes were probably the size of dinner plates.

"So this is the young Saiyan, Verto," it said, with a loud, burly but surprisingly gentle voice, at least for the time being.

"What of it?" I asked, glared at it and crossing my arms. It backed off a little bit, far enough for the orange eye to stretch over and get a bit closer than I would have liked.

"Yes, this is quite a strong being. Allow me to infest this one, he will be a great subordinate to me!" orange said in a hissing voice. I scowled, ready to rip this thing in half. It's power signal was much weaker than the Overmind's.

"Yeah that would be the day Zasz, the boy would rather tear your insides apart!" Kerrigan said from where she stood, by the purple eye.

The orange one, Zasz, blinked a few times, then glared at her, "Silence wench, I will not hesitate to destroy you myself!" _Well these two sure get along._

"Calm children, calm!" the Overmind said, prompting the orange one to return to his original position.

"Well so I'm here, what the hell do you want with me?" I shouted at the pink one. It didn't answer, nor did anyone else in the room.

"What is it? You want to infest me, absorb my energy, what?" I shouted again.

"All I want from you for right now is loyalty, you may do as you please in accordance," the Overmind said.

I stared hard at it, "Yeah right. Loyalty, I'm surprised that Zerg can tell jokes!" I laughed slightly.

"Oh you don't understand, you see I cannot easily control something alive against their will. It's complicated and requires a lot of energy as well as concentration. They have to be dead and revived first for total control, and I've always wanted a few agents that could think for themselves in accordance to my will. However, that does not mean I'll just let you come and go as you please," he explained. I stared at the large eye, trying to figure out which half I wanted to blast apart first.

"As you no doubt have noticed by now, your tail has been enveloped in a special coating that we came up with long ago, and it has marvelous properties!" I swished my tail up and took a good look at it as the Overmind continued, "It will always secrete a hormone that drives one's battle lust for blood, something you Saiyans are particularly fond of. The amount it gives off is up to me, but it does allow for other things!" I growled slightly, gathering ki in my palm, ready to blow this eye thing up. Then suddenly my tail went rigid and stiff before it seemed to clamp down with unseen pain. It was so painful that I fell to my knees, unable to do much more than breathe.

"As you can see, it will also release a control agent that will prevent you from doing anything other than breathing if I so desire!"

"You, I'll get you for this!" I snarled, trying to break free, but my body wouldn't respond.

"Oh dear Verto, you don't understand. Whether you like it or not, you're mine now! You will do as I please! It may take a little time, but you will learn your place!" He must have released the hold, because I was able to stand once again, breathing hard.

I growled some more, "And if I refuse?"

"Then you will die!" he said, his voice booming.

"I'd rather be dead then to be one of your agents!" I yelled at the huge eye, dropping into stance and charging ki into a red Galic Gun attack.

"Don't be too hasty. First of all your little ki attacks are nothing to me, and secondly, if you die, then I can infest you fully and will have full control once I do!" I stopped charging with a gasp of shock. "Oh yes little Saiyan, you belong to me, and there is nothing you can do!" he said. I slumped my shoulders in slight defeat.

"Why did you want me anyway?" I asked.

"To build the ultimate army and consume the universe!"

"You didn't want my powers?" I asked, stuttering a bit.

"Young one, I have more than enough energy to supply me the lifetime of a star. I never wanted your powers for my personal survival. It was for the sole purpose of first defeating and infesting the Protoss, and then the universe!" the eye bobbed up and down. I stared at the eye hard, blinking a few times in disbelief.

"Who told you such things, the Protoss? The wizard Babidi or the demon King Dabura? They must really open their minds if they think they had the Zerg figured out. As for the Protoss, once we discover their home planet's location, we will proceed there!" he answered before I could ask any sort of question.

"You do realize you won't be able to stop my friends from finding me. They whooped your little army's ass on Earth, they can do it again!" I grinned.

"Oh yes, the other Saiyans. That is another reason you are here now, you are the bait that will bring them into the fold. I planned on enslaving you all back on Earth, but the Protoss are never patient and intervened, nonetheless we will be waiting for them. You are the one who will kill them all and enable me to infest each and every last one of them. Don't you think I know that the Protoss have slightly superior firepower over my swarms? You Saiyans make them look like a gust of wind with your incredible power, but neither race is a true threat to me, not even you in your current state can stop me!" he said, hinting at something he probably shouldn't have. _It just said way too much, all I have to do is get out of here and train._

"My current state is no threat huh, you mean you're not even scared of my Psi ability?" I asked, ready to start using it. When I tried to summon it, it was somehow blocked, or at least mostly blocked. It took some serious concentration to trace it and I discovered quickly that it would take a lot of ki to use it again; it just wasn't there like before.

"As you can see little warrior, your Psionic power is not going to be a problem right now. Any race that is infested cannot use it unless I choose otherwise. Your power is very unique, and therefore will be contained until you see things our way. You probably can't feel much of it right now due to some minor interference that is not my doing. That aside, your ability to use Psi at will shall be minimal and controlled!" the pink eye twinkled now like it was showing off a grin that I couldn't see. _I can't believe this is happening!_

"Fine, you think you can control me huh? Well with my tail like you say I don't doubt it, but what if I did this?" I asked, grasping my tail tightly with my hand.

"Do what child?" it asked.

I sucked up my breath and cried out in pain as I clamped down hard and pulled my tail clear out. "OW! Son of a …ugh!" I shouted in pain, but steadied myself and tossed my former appendage to the ground.

"Nonetheless, a very foolish child you are!" the Overmind said. It didn't hurt near as bad as I expected, and the pain was gone within moments.

"I wouldn't bet on that," I grinned, "Now that you've given me all that information, that tail is worthless and can't harm me at all! Which means you guys are toast!" I declared, powering up fully with my ki. The eyes all simply blinked at me. _Well I expected a better reaction than that._ Then my rear end started to itch, a lot. I glanced over my shoulder only to watch as a new tail instantly sprouted where the old one once stood, it too was green. My eyes shot open, _Man, no way!_

"Did your fight with Borgos teach you nothing? All Zerg can regenerate, and that includes you as well!" the blue eye now bobbled up and down.

"It seems you have no choice but to follow our lead. Otherwise we can make you, and with most beings I've met, most like to keep their free will!" Zasz's orange eye blinked.

"Enough of this, we should be landing soon. Once upon the planet surface, you will receive your first mission. Kerrigan, take him back to his chambers and inform him of what his mission is!" the Overmind spoke, retracting slightly.

I snarled at the giant eye, as well as the others while holding up a middle finger, "Screw you all, my friends will come for me! And then I'm gonna kill every last fucking one of you!"

"Let them come, I could use a few more recruits!" it said as Kerrigan pulled on my shoulder and led me out the door.


	3. Kerrigan's Story

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 2: Kerrigan's story**

"Argh, damn that thing to hell!" I shouted, punching the wall harshly. A blood vessel or two opened up when I did that, causing the wall to bleed.

"Now now, going off like a lunatic isn't going to help you. It certainly could be worse!" Kerrigan scolded with her shaking finger.

"How so?" I asked.

"You could be under his full control. Trust me, you don't want that to happen. I suggest you do what he says for now," she said with a warning glare.

"I guess you're right," I muttered, kicking the bleeding wall.

"You're lucky you didn't have to go through the soul binding procedure because you weren't dead. You think its bad now, try going through that a time or two and this will be a cakewalk," she said.

"What was it like for you? I mean how did you get infested and all?" I asked.

"It's a long story," she said sadly.

"I think we have the time for it," I said, taking a seat on the slimy floor.

"I suppose you're right, and I doubt anyone will notice right now. The Overmind will probably be too focused on landing this big organic mass without crashing it," Kerrigan sighed as she took a seat as well, "It all started when I joined the military for the Terrans in this sector, since I was the daughter of the demon king, I had some special abilities. I didn't know the full extent of those until after I was infested, and I barely remember the man I called father. I was enlisted as a Ghost, which were used primarily for special ops involving snipers and negotiation. Back then there was a faction here known as the Terran Confederacy, a group that broke off from the Earth of this dimension. It had a lot of colonies spread about this area, numbering up to twenty planets, maybe more. The confederate's Ghost program was brutal to most, but especially to me. Since I was different than any other ghost that they had, they would perform experiments on me that they wouldn't on the others, and some involved torture! Not the high point of my life with some of those experiments," she said sadder now.

"That's horrible!" I said in surprise.

"Well I got back at them in the end," she started again, "During the latter part of the Confederate reign, a planet by the name of Korhal became a planet of outlaws. A man by the name of Arcturus Mengsk came to power there, organizing a rebellion before taking over the planet. The Confederates tried to crush their movement by bombarding the planet with nuclear weapons, but they could not get Mengsk. Soon enough Mengsk's forces built up enough to hold off the Confederates and move around this sector. Shortly before then was when I first encountered the Zerg. The Confederates had stumbled upon them by accident and had found a way to lure them in to study them. Namely me, a ghost leaves behind a neural imprint of Psi, just enough to lure a few Zerg that might be nearby to check it out. This gave them an excellent plan to use Psi emitters to crush their enemies without getting their hands dirty, and many were constructed and ready to deposit on Korhal. Just picture it, they drop the emitter with some supplies on an unsuspecting planet. Then after the Zerg arrive and destroy mostly everything, they sweep in and take them out and become the heroes. Quite a disgusting idea if you ask me," she scowled.

I nodded, "Sounds like a bunch of cowards!"

"You got that right. Anyway, Mengsk interfered with their plans and saved me, then had destroyed the base containing the Psi emitters. About five years passed as we moved about to disrupt the Confederates plans. They had a general by the name of Edmund Duke leading their best troops. There was a reason for it too, many times we struck at the Confederate Capitol world of Tarsonis, and every time we lost because of Duke's craftiness. We must have fought the same defenses ten or eleven times and got beat by the same man."

"Heh, sounds embarrassing," I said with a grin.

She returned the glance, "It was. It was about eight years ago when we came across a man by the name of Marshall James Raynor, a very skilled marine on a colony planet called Mar Sara. The confederates had watched him and his colony for awhile, and felt that he was a bit too comfortable out there. He and his troops were some of the best they had ever seen. So they placed a Psi emitter on the surface. It took a few weeks, but the Zerg arrived in numbers and overran the colony. Mengsk however intervened and got Raynor and his men out of there before the Zerg killed them all. While doing so, we raided the planet's Confederate outpost and found out about the Psi emitters for the first time; we had unknowingly destroyed them before. Then we headed to a colony called Antiga prime, where the Antigans were ready to begin open revolt against the Confederates. Duke found out about this early and stationed a large squadron of troops there to prevent any such thing from going down. Raynor and I got into the base and killed Duke's officers, and then we defeated the troops that were there. Then the Zerg suddenly showed up during the middle of a civil war!"

"Wow that is wild," I said, very interested in the story despite knowing most of it as it was. I didn't mind though, it beat listening to the Overmind's crap right now.

"Yeah, they showed up and ambushed Duke and his troops, isolating them from outside help. I thought I would finally get to see the bastard go down," she said, slightly angry.

"So what happened then?"

"Mengsk saved his ass, and amazingly enough Duke accepted his offer to join him, though he felt shaky about it. Afterwards the Confederates arrived by the masses, and blocked us in so we couldn't escape. Since we now had the Psi emitters, we used their own weapon against them. I planted a Psi emitter in the Confederate's base, and then got the hell out of there. Just as we planned, the Zerg arrived and broke the blockade for us to escape with. And then Tarsonis," she paused.

"What about Tarsonis? That must have been a battle!" I exclaimed.

"It was, we defeated the Confederates main defenses in orbit around the planet, but then Mengsk ordered Duke to plant Psi emitters on the platforms in orbit. I was totally against the idea, and so was Jim, I mean Captain Raynor. He followed through with it anyway and we watched the Zerg come down by the millions to completely decimate the Confederate capitol," she explained.

"And, how did you deal with that many Zerg?"

"We didn't technically, The Protoss arrived next. We discovered that they had been following the trail of Zerg and beat on every planet until it was either destroyed or unable to support life, thus wiping out any Zerg there. They arrived next on Tarsonis and threatened to do the same there. Mengsk theorized that they would interfere long enough for the Confederates to escape, so he sent me down there to hold them off. We weren't to touch the Zerg unless they struck first, but we were to wipe out the Protoss there. I took a small detachment and defeated them at a place called New Gettysburg. Shortly after that, I died," she looked down slightly.

"What, the Protoss got you?" I asked.

"No, the Zerg hit us hard after we defeated the Protoss and drove them off, I called for help but Mengsk didn't send any. I heard Jim and him arguing over it for quite a time before my troops were all slain, as was I. The Overmind had my body preserved and transformed into what you see now. After learning of my latent powers, we came this way, chasing the wizard Babidi and my father Dabura. You probably can figure out the rest," she finished.

"Humph, some past, but then mine isn't exactly a walk in the park either I guess," I said, giving off a slight grin with a rub of the head.

"I suppose I better tell you what's going to be going on since were about to descend upon the planet," she said. I reached out with my senses, aside from all of the Zerg around me, I did notice we were coming up to a planet.

"You are to seek out and destroy the rag tag pieces of Terran troops here and there. Consider it a first test of your loyalty, after all you want to keep your free will right?" she said.

I scowled right away, "You do realize how much I disapprove don't you?"

"Yes, but like I said, you don't want the latter. It's not that these Terrans are any good either, they are remnants of the old Confederacy," she explained.

"Hey, whatever happened to Mengsk?" I asked.

"Oh him, he had himself crowned emperor and Jim Raynor went his own way, he rebelled against Mengsk and escaped amazingly. I haven't seen either of them for a long time, something I am grateful for," she said with a scowl. Suddenly everything around us shook violently before coming to a huge crash.

"We've landed."

Interlude 2.1 -Problems arise-

Judicator Aldaris scowled when his assistant Croton gave his report.

"As you can see Judicator, we will need to stop and find replacement parts for the hyper drive. The pylon crystals will not last for long without a sufficient plasma-cooling tank. We owe out thanks to the blob known as Buu for this problem. Our previous tank is now wearing thin, not to mention we need replacement coolant for the amount we lost!" Croton said, looking nervous. Aldaris's scowl deepened, and the high Templar grumbled a bit.

"Fine, stop at the nearest port and see what you can find for parts. While you're at it, find out how much of a lead we have on Tassadar. I don't want him catching up!" Croton scurried about with those orders before coming back a few minutes later.

"Sire, I estimate that we have one week until the dimensional wall. Then it is possible to send a message home for immediate interdimensional recall!"

Aldaris allowed his frown to lighten some, "And Tassadar?"

"Currently he is about two weeks behind. Once we cross the threshold it will be a good two to three months before he comes back to Auir. Since they are using a Carrier for transport, their hyper drive isn't as advanced and his transmitter will not be capable of long range," Croton said with a nod of the head.

Aldaris sighed with slight relief, "Good, we will be waiting for him when he comes back. Now where is the nearest port?" After punching some buttons and getting a computerized readout, Croton read the display.

"Looks to be an outpost of the old Kold Empire nearby, shouldn't be much trouble finding replacement parts here. As I understand they are quite technological as well!"

"Proceed with caution though, these infidels were once allied with the Saiyans. They could be just as treacherous!"

"Understood Judicator!" Croton replied, setting course to the spaceport. Aldaris sat back in his chair, impatience flooding through his mind.

-

"We're receiving a transmissionfrom the station sire!" Croton announced about twenty minutes later.

"Put it through," Aldaris mumbled, gathering himself so not to insult or mock whatever creature appeared on the screen.

"Approaching vessel, this is Frieza planet number seventy-seven, identify yourselves! Your ships do not register with any organization we are familiar with," a purple-headed soldier said from the screen. Aldaris looked this one over quickly. It had a purple head with green dots around its head and wore similar armor that the Saiyans had worn. It looked to have shoulder guards as well, and it was a different color.

"We are the Protoss, we represent planet Auir. We wish to stop for replacement parts and coolant for our hyper drive as it is beginning to wear apart," Aldaris announced without insulting the creature, something he had trouble doing. One thing he never liked about his position was associating with any other than his own race. Even contact with the lower Protoss were better than this to him.

The purple creature seemed to be looking something up first, "Is this planet Auir in this galaxy? Because I do not register its existence," it said.

Aldaris scowled a bit, "In case you did not know, there is a secret dimensional rift wall light years from here. It is difficult to find and does not stretch for very far, but it is there. Our planet is in that dimension, we were chasing down some tyrants from there and are returning home," Aldaris said, stretching the truth to say the least.

"I'm going to have to contact Lord Frost over this matter before I can allow you to dock. Only he can approve of the purchase of any parts for your ships, please stand by," it said, and the screen was replaced with the blackness of space.

"Lord Frost huh, sounds like a strange character," Croton muttered.

"Perhaps, but then again if he is any relation to this Frieza person, we may be able to barter with him. As I understand, Frieza hated the Saiyans," Aldaris grinned a bit.

The transmission returned, "I have contacted Lord Frost, he awaits your arrival at Dock number fourteen. Pardon for any confusion, but its been a long time since we have encountered a new race in this part of the galaxy," the purple man said.

"Pardoned," Aldaris said respectfully. The transmission ended abruptly, and Aldaris sat back into his chair, bored again.

"Croton, is the Saiyan ready to talk yet?"

"No sire, he still refuses to tell us anything about his powers, may I suggest we turn down the ki collar settings by five percent to see what makes them work?"

Aldaris sighed, "At the first sign of trouble you turn them back up, we don't need him getting loose around here! Otherwise do what you need to figure out how his ki works, inform me of the results!"

"Understood Judicator, we will begin after repairs are completed!" Croton said, giving a bow. Aldaris nodded and watched as they approached the space station, only slightly eager to meet this Frost person.

-

Goku sighed as he watched his son and father spar together. Ever since they left Earth, Gohan had been more distant then ever before in all his life. All he wanted to do was train and spar, he hardly ever said a word about it. It had been one month since they left Earth, and according to Tassadar they were about three weeks away from the dimensional portal that they would use to get to the other galaxy. Since the ship didn't have any long-range transmitters, they couldn't contact anyone that was more than ten light years away, according to Tassadar anyway. Goku never really understood technology that much, but he had a pretty good idea how much a light year was in distance. Off to the side, Vegeta and Fasha were also sparring together. They had seemingly grown slightly closer because of their ties to Verto, and Vegeta wanted to test the girl as much as possible. Goku immediately thought of the connection between Fasha and Verto. He, like many others, didn't truly approve of the match. True the girl seemed devoted enough, but it was more like she was trying to please her prince and not the boy. They loved each other sure enough, Goku and everyone else could see that, but it was more of a lust than love on her part. That general longing for each other had decreased dramatically when Vegeta had Shenron turn him back into an eight year old. Of course that would be expected of the boy not to share the same feelings. Fasha held onto them secretly, but they slowly faded from the outside and no one was even be able to tell this was the same woman. It was more like she had become his older sister, or something similar. Goku sighed, he hadn't known Verto that long, but yet still missed him like a son. He glanced behind him, where Tora seemed to be meditating.

_I think Fasha would be better off with Tora, Vegeta practically threw them together from what I understand. I don't know how he expects Verto to adjust back and forth like that. It would be better for him to just grow up naturally, seems like bad luck just follows that little guy,_ Goku thought to himself. A loud groan came from his father, who was holding his stomach in pain. The result of a power punch from Super Mystic Gohan would make anyone groan.

"Well at least I can't accuse my grandson of being weak," Bardock grumbled.

Gohan managed to grin and rub the back of his head, "Sorry Grandpa, I sort of get lost in the moment sometimes!"

"Well, I won't say to prevent that from happening. Enemies don't deserve mercy," Bardock replied.

"I guess it's a good think that you aren't an enemy then," Gohan said, chuckling slightly.

Goku smiled as Gohan had actually laughed, it had been at least a few weeks since he did. _He must really miss Videl; I never thought her death would affect him this much since he knows we can wish her back! Then again I suppose I wouldn't be the same if I ever lost Chichi the way he lost Videl._ Gohan powered down from Super Mystic and buried his energy once more. Bardock did the same, him being at Super Saiyan two.

"Wow Gohan, looks like you have that transformation down now!" Goku exclaimed.

"Not really Dad. I still have to get angry, nor have I gotten all of the power from it. The ship isn't a good place for me to test its depths; maybe if we run across an abandoned planet I can really crank it up. Otherwise I'll need to stay at this level so I don't damage anything," he said softly.

"Well have you learned anything new then?" Goku asked, eager to know if he could do it as well.

"Yeah, this form takes balance to work, meaning the energy levels have to be the same otherwise they don't combine that well. I'm still not sure why it all worked out on Earth because I wasn't focused like now. But my ki is higher than my Psi, so I have to bury some of it so I can get more power. I did figure out a trick with my Psi though, I can summon new ki from it to use should I run low enough to lose the Super Mystic form, it can keep me going for awhile. But I'm about three times as exhausted after I power down, so its still a little tricky," Gohan explained.

"Being able to tap extra power like that would be a great thing to have in a battle against a stronger foe. Can you strengthen yourself further with it?" Bardock asked, holding his ribs.

"No not really, but there might be a way to do it. I just have a lot of extra power to work with to keep me going longer. Other than a few special techniques, its not much of a power up anyway. That balance of both Psi and ki combined is what really cranks out power, but my Psi is too low to match my ki, at least at a high level. It's a pain to keep up sometimes," Gohan said, almost disappointed.

"Nonetheless, it is a great asset to possess, remember that kid!" Bardock warned as Gohan nodded. Fasha was still busy getting the crap beat out of her by the Saiyan prince, but that was expected, Vegeta never held back on anyone. Once she finally took a knee and gave out, Vegeta powered down.

"That's enough for today girl, tomorrow we resume training at this level!" Vegeta stated, walking towards the door.

He stopped there as it swished open, "Kakarot, come with me please!" Goku hesitated, he hardly ever heard the word please, never mind from Vegeta. They stepped from the severe gravity to the ship's platform and out of the room. None of the Saiyans really noticed the gravity increase until sparring, where most of the damage came in. It was also only set to one hundred times gravity, and most of them could handle that with ease. Vegeta said nothing at first, making his way to his chambers. Goku followed him in, careful not to say something that Vegeta would shout at him for.

"What's up?" Goku asked.

Vegeta's scowl didn't ease, "No doubt you've noticed your son's behavior lately?" Goku looked puzzled to say the least, what everyone was feeling usually didn't matter to Vegeta.

"Yeah he has been a bit distant lately, what's wrong with him?"

"He's been more than distant Kakarot! If you weren't so ignorant you would notice how much your son has been training lately. He hardly ever sleeps and eats just enough to give him energy for the next day, do you know why?" Vegeta asked, glaring at Goku.

"Afraid not, why?"

"Argh, if you weren't an idiot and had not hit your head and been raised on Earth, I would vaporize you for an answer like that. The reason is because his mating bond has been broken, and until the Satan girl is wished back, he will continue like this," Vegeta said with a frown.

"I don't know much about these Saiyan bond things really," Goku admitted, which expanded the vein on Vegeta's forehead.

He didn't explode yet, "As to be expected from a clown. You and the others may not believe in their existence, but they fact is that they do exist and they do function. The behavior patterns of others always reveal themselves to the eye of a trained Saiyan. Even with others that are not Saiyans, though that is extremely rare. Back to my point, because of Gohan's predicament, he has to deal with emotions that are ten times more intense than a normal human might. We are fortunate he is in the vengeful part of it, otherwise he wouldn't even train. He would just sit in his room, depressed," Vegeta explained.

"Why would he do that?" Goku asked.

"Idiot! Since his mate has been killed, he intends to hunt down the thing that killed her. It happens whenever a Saiyan's mate has been killed! Gohan will not rest until he has hunted Aldaris down and killed him, then he may just kill himself!"

Goku's expression turned back to shocked. "Why would he kill himself then?"

"Because Kakarot, he would rather die then live by himself and be depressed with the pain of loss! Remember a mating bond is permanent even after death, and the separation will slowly kill him if he doesn't do it himself!"

Goku was quite surprised to learn this, "Then maybe we should turn back and get to New Namek now!"

"No, we continue forth, I have a hunch it may not pan out like that. Since he is only half Saiyan and Videl is human, the bond may not affect him that much like it would if our mates were to kick the bucket. The reason I'm bringing this up is because of the boy," Vegeta shuffled his feet slightly.

"You mean Verto?" Goku asked in confusion.

"Exactly, he has not died yet. Trust me we would have known by now. Even a partial bond like he and the girl share can have full effect if one or the other is killed, and since both are full-blooded Saiyans. Do you get my point Kakarot?"

"Yeah I think so, so should we go to Namek and wish him here as well?"

Vegeta's veins on his forehead began to expand quite a bit, "What good would that do Kakarot? We would still have the Protoss and the Zerg to deal with, and we don't know what state the boy is in right now! For all we know he could be infested and could kill us all in that state. You recall the energy we sensed from Borgos when he was infested, we have to assume that the boy could be three times as powerful with some of his potential!"

"Then what do we do?" Goku asked, dumbfounded.

"We continue on course. If the boy has succumbed to their will, we may hear from him sooner than later. The girl may be the only way to get him back if he is truly under the Overmind's control! I would prefer not to have to kill him if that is the case!" Vegeta claimed. Goku glanced out the space window along side his long time rival, both of them wondering what the future would bring.


	4. Out of Control

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 3: Out of Control**

The Super Hive structure slowly flattened out onto the ground, falling apart and becoming the purple creep I had come to know and hate. As if they had something to do right away, the Zerg spread out around the immediate perimeter. I finally got a chance to view the different broods at once, and there were quite a few of them. I counted eight different colors of Zerg minions, red, blue, orange, teal, yellow, brown, white, and finally purple. According to Kerrigan, her Cerebrate, or so-called boss, was the purple one, yet did not have a name. Not that I really cared what the thing was supposed to be called, but the lack of a name was kind of odd. Then again she only told me of two Cerebrates that actually had a name, that being Daggoth and Zasz. Also, she confirmed that her Cerebrate doesn't issue her orders much, but that she bossed it around like no other.

"Now then, the Terran encampment is over in that direction. You are to destroy that base and wait there for further instructions, can you handle that?" Kerrigan asked.

"Some test, I think your buddies already know the answer to that question of rather I can or not," I muttered loudly.

"More than likely, just go do it and be done with it. There will probably be more interesting things to do once it's done," Kerrigan said.

"Humph, how about I just tell them to pack up and leave so I don't have to kill anyone?" I asked.

"Why do you ask questions when you already know the answer? Do I really need to mention the consequences of that action?" she retorted. _No not really._

"Fine I'm going!" I shouted, using my ki to blast off into the sky. I hadn't gone but a few miles when an odd sensation began to flow through me. It was a little familiar too. It felt as if I wanted to destroy something, or kill something. I had always gotten that odd feeling whenever I was fully powered up, especially in my old ape form. The other time it happened was when I was on planet Vegeta, the planet had some sort of blood lust aura about it. It even reared it's head a time or two when I was with Fasha, though it wasn't a destructive kind of lust, and that had long since vanished. I generally ignored it, figuring it was just getting to me since I wanted to wipe out the Zerg so bad. Then the feeling intensified quite a bit, and I soon felt as if I should just pound the countryside with ki blasts just to satisfy it. _What the hell is up with me today?_

"_Destroy the Terrans!"_ a voice in my head said.

"Who's there?" I asked. No answer. _Okay, who the hell was that?_

"_I am the Cerebrate, your guide and commander!"_

"_Oh no, you're not controlling me like one of those mindless Zerg!"_

"_I don't have to. Your tail currently serves as a link to me and the Overmind, and I can control what he controls. Right now that would be your sudden lust for blood, you can feel it now can't you? How about we up the dosage just a bit!"_ It suddenly felt as if I was going to rip out my heart if I didn't kill something fast. I growled and didn't respond, seeing the Terran base just ahead of me. I heard a massive alarm go off as I approached. I stopped and floated mid air above the base. Below there were all kinds of buildings and vehicles parked, as well as many soldiers with weapons running about. The largest building had the most people running out of it, and featured a large satellite dish.

"Identify yourself!" a loud megaphone like voice called out to me. I resisted the urge to shoot the person with it, and held back a bit, studying the base. I really didn't want to destroy them if I didn't have to, despite all of the battle lust that was going through my blood at the moment.

"Sir, I'm reading Zerg bio matter from that creature!" a soldier shouted out. _Well shit, this isn't going my way!_ Right away a few towers pointed their weapons up towards me, and I saw what looked to be anti-air missile turrets aiming my way as well. Then I saw a sight that really didn't help at the moment. Inside the base there were women and children scurrying about, and a few soldiers smacked them on the backsides to get a move on.

I frowned, "Look I don't want to hurt you, just stop doing your bad things here and I'll leave you alone!" That didn't seem to get an answer, until the missiles flew out and straight at me. I powered up quickly, sending an invisible wall of ki at the missiles and blowing them up before they got close. Then I heard the machine gun fire start and saw the red slugs of metal streaking up towards me. _Well its not like those will hurt me anyway._ Boy was I wrong. When the bullets hit my skin, I thought Chichi had a rapid-fire frying pan hitting me. They didn't penetrate, but they hurt enough for me to put my arms up to block my face. I lowered to the ground, trying to avoid the blasted things. They kept shooting more and more bullets, and each of them left a temporary red mark on my skin that ached. Then I saw what appeared to be a large tank with a huge cannon turn my way.

"_Move now!"_ the Cerebrate's voice suddenly rang out. I dodged to the side just as a large chunk of the ground was blasted by a very quick hit from the tank.

"_Those are shock cannons attached to those tanks, they will damage you greatly if they hit!_" it said. I didn't have to wait long to find that out, I didn't even sense the next one coming before it hit. If felt like one of Vegeta's Super Saiyan three power punches at five hundred times gravity, it hurt!

"Hey stop it, I don't wanna fight you!" I shouted out. No response, except more firing from the tanks, the bullets were falling short of range. I dodged the next few tank hits by phasing out quickly, thinking they wouldn't bug me much if I could dodge them. Then all I had to do was move around quickly before they narrowly avoided me.

"_Kill them, they only want to kill you!"_ the voice urged, along with a new wave of bloodlust. I was now fighting myself not to go kill them now. Because of that, I didn't notice that I was now in range for the machine guns to hit me once again. I blocked the bullets coming at my face, forgetting about the tanks. Then it was like I was in a painful barrage of whatever they had firing at me all at once.

"_Kill them, its them or you!"_ the Cerebrate shouted at me this time.

"_No I won't!"_ I thought back at it. The firepower continued, and now I felt my body being hit harder by the firepower. Blood was being drawn in many places despite my aura being there to try to fend some of it off.

"_KILL THEM!"_

"No, you won't control me!" I whispered aloud. My power started to boil from beneath, aching to be let out, and the bloodlust increased ten fold when that happened. "YOU WON'T CONTROL ME!" I screamed as I powered up fully with my ki. A ki shield I placed around myself then halted the barrage. I found that when I used my power while extremely angry, I only got angrier, and the only ones to take the anger out on were right in front of me. I don't know if it was me that pulled the first trigger, or if it was the Zerg, but I fired a massive blast directly in front at them. It cut through the Terran troops like they weren't even there, and blew right through the buildings that were in its path, before exploding on the far side of the base. I wasn't done there, the feeling to take their lives felt so good I had to do it again. I knew that I shouldn't, but shutting off the war machine now was impossible, and I proceeded to grin a little bit as I fired again.

-

An hour later, I stood against the only broken wall that was still standing, scowling at the whole event. Everything and everyone that was inside the base was dead, and I had done it all. I felt like throwing up at the site, and what made it worse was that I actually enjoyed it to an extent, or the Cerebrate was messing with me some more, one of the two. The only thing that eased my thoughts was that I gave them all a quick and painless death, I never once tortured any of them. I sensed a Zerg Overlord approach quickly, and I felt a few beings were aboard. Kerrigan and a few Hydralisks hopped out of them, she wore a half smile.

"Good job Verto, you've done well here!"

"Save your congratulations, it makes me sick thinking about it!" Judging by the way she reacted, I would guess the Overmind had a close eye on her, because she acted like an emotionless bitch again. I remembered her telling me back on Earth that she often operated without big ugly's knowledge so it would seem like she had split personalities at times. It was still confusing to work with though.

"Your feelings do not matter as long as you get the job done. Besides, you've destroyed a weapon that these Terrans have used against us for a long time!" she mused.

"And what would that be?" I snarled.

"See that large building with the satellite dish? It is called a Psi disruptor, kind of like the ki disruptor Aldaris used on you. Only it disrupts Psionic output as well as Zerg movements and actions, its signal can single handedly break apart Zerg hives and make them run out of control with their own minions killing each other! You might have accessed all of your power once again if that had not been active when you lost your temper, a pity!"

This only added to my dismay, _Great, here there's a weapon I can use on these bastards and I blow it up, Argh!_ Then I realized what she said about me being angry and accessing my power, but as I was thinking that over, I saw her shake her head sharply for a brief second, as if not to mention it.

"Oh dear Verto, don't fret too much about it. A few more missions and we will have you purged of those useless emotions regarding life!" Kerrigan grinned deeply.

"Like hell you will. You can play with my head all you want, but you cannot change the person I am!" I said in defiance.

"We don't have to, just the influence of battle will do that. We're only accelerating the process, your friend Borgos was the same way initially, but his warrior spirit was quickly tamed. I figured you would be harder to tame because of your pure heart, but its nothing we cannot handle. Now then, please come back with me, your injuries need treated!" she ordered. I scowled as I followed her into the Overlord's transport chamber, barely noticing that my legs and arms were pretty torn up by all of the firepower the Terrans had used on me.

"_Don't worry kid. I know you hate this, but I won't let you change that much. Help should be here with you soon, trust me on that!_" I heard her distinct voice say, only it was inside my head. I glanced at her, but she had a finger to her lips before I could even ask a question. She merely shook her whole head slightly and proceeded without a word.

Interlude 3.1 –The Meeting-

Aldaris stepped off of the ship's entrance ramp on the planet surface and glanced around. The place was well kept for a military-like base, but other than that it wasn't much to him. A few of his officers joined him as a door ahead of him opened from the large building. Out stepped at least a dozen small soldiers, armed with some sort of weapons on their arms. Aldaris barely regarded them, but was wary of the weapons they had.

They stepped to the sides and bowed towards the center, "Hail Lord Frost!" Another figure stepped out, larger this time. His head was mostly round, and his skin was light purple. To Aldaris, it looked like this creature had natural armor as some of his skin. It was white and extended only across the chest and body to the waist. The forearms had similar armor, as well as the legs below the knee. His head had some armor too, mostly white on top and the sides, but the center of his head had a deeper purple color to it, as did a few other areas on his body like his shoulders and the center of his chest. The similar around his forearms and ankles.

"Greetings, I am Lord Frost, the ruler of Kold Empire. I welcome you to planet Frieza number seventy-seven!" he said, nodding slightly.

"I am Judicator Aldaris of the Protoss, pleasure meeting you," the Templar said, hiding his disgust of another creature outside his race. The two exchanges overall glances before saying anything more.

"So what brings you out this way? We rarely have anyone except our own forces nearby," Frost asked.

"We were chasing down tyrants from our own galaxy when we crossed into this dimension. They would best be described as destructive insect like creatures from our dimension," Aldaris began, pausing respectively for Frost's thoughts on the matter.

"Come to think of it, I recall reading a report of a large insect like fleet going by about ten months ago, but they never bothered anyone around here so it was not much any attention. They were heading towards the north galaxy, and us being on the far edge of the east, it was not much to be worried about. My forces are depleted enough as it is to go fretting about a seemingly harmless alien fleet going on by," Frost explained as if he didn't care either which way.

"They would be dealt with by now if a certain group of creatures hadn't gotten in the way," Aldaris sneered slightly, catching Frost's attention.

"And who would do that, certainly you're not accusing my empire are you?" Frost sneered back.

"No, I am referring to a group that is supposed to be extinct in this dimension, but yet a few traces of them remain, you might know of them," Aldaris dragged on.

Frost stepped forward slightly, stomping the ground and scaring his own troops. "Who?" he asked in a deathly calm voice.

"The Saiyans!" Aldaris announced. Frost's reaction wasn't one of the best, and Aldaris actually had to hold on to himself so not to be blown away by the sudden power increase.

"The Saiyans are responsible for the deaths of my uncle Cooler, my father Frieza and my grandfather King Kold! I am naturally vengefully minded on the subject!" Frost growled.

"Really, because I know where they are right now!" Aldaris led him on.

"Where?"

"Before I tell you, I would like to trade information. You are obviously a powerful being from this area of the galaxy, and you are fully trained on the ki arts are you not?" Aldaris asked.

Frost nodded, "And?"

"Would it be possible for you to teach me such arts in exchange for the Saiyan's whereabouts?" Frost looked a little dumbfounded, but regained his composure quickly.

"For what use?" he asked.

"Our people would greatly benefit from such knowledge, and without it the Saiyans may be able to overwhelm our race quickly!" Frost paused thoughtfully, and then motioned for a few of his soldiers to come over to them.

"Check out their hyper drive systems and get them any parts that they need. I want their ships working by the tomorrow night!" Frost ordered. Aldaris nodded for his officers to go with them, leaving Frost and himself alone on the landing area.

"What is your real purpose?" Frost asked.

"What makes you think I had something else in mind?" Aldaris asked carefully.

"Because I have seen that look on my father's face many times. You are harder to read, but I'd recognize that tone of voice anywhere," Frost said, grinning slightly.

"To rule my own galaxy of course. In return for that information on how to control ki and getting my ships going. I will not only tell you where the Saiyans are, but where they are going. I'll leave them for you to deal with!"

"Good, where are they going?" Frost asked.

"Are we agreed then?" Aldaris asked as he offered out his hand.

"Yes I'll teach you, now where?" Frost said impatiently as he shook the alien's hand.

"They're coming this way, they should be here in two weeks!"

**A/N: The bad guys are in league with each other and Verto is beginning to be affected by the Zerg implants. Fun fun fun! By the way, Frost is to look much like Cooler in appearance.**

**Next time on DBV: Verto deals with his actions, Aldaris learns from Frost, and Fasha makes a decision that will affect the future for all time.**


	5. Fasha's Decision

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 4: Fasha's decision**

Kerrigan showed me back to the room I had started out in, the chamber with the green healing fluid. I climbed in with a general lack of enthusiasm and it filled to the point where I was breathing the fluid again. At first I coughed on it, but it quickly oxygenated my blood and began to sooth my body's wounds. My overwhelming feeling to kill something had not decreased much, but lessened in intensity once I powered down. I was very ashamed of what I had done, and as far as I knew I was not under anyone's control other than my own. And I had enjoyed it, it felt like opening up a new door to a life I never had. I felt sick and excited at the same time, and I hated myself for it. Kerrigan stayed in the room for about five minutes before leaving me with my disgusted thoughts on the matter. She came back after about an hour, and the fluid drained enough for me to climb out.

"So why did I need healed if I'm supposed to regenerate?" I asked as soon as I climbed out.

She looked slightly amused, "_Because only your tail had taken on the Zerg qualities. The rest of your body will slowly after each healing session you spend in there, otherwise you would develop those characteristics very quickly_," she said. I wasn't sure what to make of that statement until I realized she didn't move her lips again.

"_So why all the secrecy with me? It's like I'm dealing with two of you?"_ I thought back at her.

"_I thought you would have figured that out by now, I don't want the Overmind knowing what I'm up to. If you're smart about it, you will follow my lead. You are being pretty convincing, even if it isn't an act for you, I suggest you keep it that way," _she answered as she grinned slightly at my dismay. She pointed out some sort of nest like surface to lay on.

"I assume you will need to sleep somewhere, you can use that for a bed, it will provide suitable warmth for sleep," she said in a cold tone. It looked like some sort of gooey bird nest, without the sticks, just the goo. I found that on the end of it there was an opening of some sort, like a sleeping bag, and she ushered me into it. It was surprisingly warm and comforting, but it did nothing to ease my soul of today's events.

"I know what you're thinking, why did you take all those lives today when you didn't truly have to? The Cerebrate released the hormones into your blood enough to drive you mad with desire to kill. As I understand, most Saiyans love to fight as it is, so it was quite easy to do. And they will probably remain in there until you remove them yourself!" Kerrigan said in her slightly soothing voice, like she was a good person again.

"That's no excuse for what I did today, and how would I be able to remove my own hormones?" I asked.

"You'll figure it out someday. Besides, it isn't the chemicals as much as it is the source of them. For now I suggest you get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow. We need to gather up enough resources to build another Super Hive, we're leaving soon again!"

"Oh boy, off to destroy more innocent people!" I muttered.

She scowled, "Ha, those Terrans you killed today are no better than the old Confederacy, in fact that's what they were once part of. They got what they have deserved for a long time!"

"And the women and children, did they deserve it?" I asked.

"There were civilians?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, and I killed them too. You know what's really sick about all this, I fucking enjoyed it like a true Saiyan should. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone with my misery," I said, turning to my side underneath the gooey blanket.

"Well, the only comfort I can give you is that you won't see many more civilians after we leave. We're going to a deserted planet called Char, a lava filled wasteland. We will be staying there for awhile," she said. I didn't answer, only grunted. It seemed to be good enough for an answer, and I sensed her leave the room. I let myself shed tears with the crying women and children's faces in my thoughts right before I killed them. I slowly cried myself to sleep, only to vomit a few times during the night with the disgusting dreams I had of the same thing.

Interlude 4.1 –Dilemmas-

Vegeta scowled slightly when Tassadar told him. Their ship's hyper drive was slowly going to fail sometime before the dimensional jump, and they would need it to make the jump. Not only that, but they did not have the parts to fix it. Vegeta then looked over the star maps that they had on this area. He found that he knew them a little bit.

"If we're going to be around this area about a week before the jump, there should be a base around here somewhere. Should be Frieza planet number seventy-seven, and I believe I still have some credits. We should be able to find suitable replacement parts here!" he said.

"Excellent, I'll set course for that planet. Is it a commonly used trade post?" Tassadar asked.

"It was in the old days, I'm not sure what has happened to the Kold Empire since we destroyed its main cast of figures. It had spread through this upper portion of the east galaxy and the lower part of the north mostly. We didn't travel outside of those two quadrants that much, so I would assume its still there. It's probably a far cry from old empire standards, but it should be sufficient," Vegeta explained, looking thoughtful.

"Is there any possibility of confrontation then? You said that Saiyans weren't exactly popular with the hierarchy of the empire correct?" Tassadar asked.

"That is true, but most of them have been destroyed now. I doubt anyone around this area will even know what a Saiyan looks like without looking up history, I recommend caution irregardless," Vegeta warned.

"That you don't have to remind me of. Helm, set course for that planet!" Tassadar ordered.

"C'mon Vegeta, what could be out there? An old relative of Frieza?" Goku asked in a joking matter. The look on Vegeta's face didn't change much as he only glanced at the map some more while looking to be deep in thought. Then he left the bridge area and Goku followed him.

"Leave me be Kakarot, I have some business to take care of with the girl!" Vegeta growled.

"Awww, but I thought you said we were going to spar after Tassadar and you talked!"

"I've changed my mind, but I'll gladly beat you to a pulp in a few hours!" Goku rushed to the gravity room in excitement and awaited his rival there while doing warm up stretches.

Vegeta simply rolled his eyes, "Imbecile."

**-**

Vegeta came up to Fasha's room and buzzed the doorbell like device that was there.

"Come in," she said from inside. The door hissed open and Vegeta stepped in, it closed behind him. She had been washing some of the cuts and bruises she had received from today's training session before she turned to see who it was.

"Oh, your highness!" she exclaimed, bowing right away.

"On your feet girl!" he barked. She stood at attention right away, wondering what was going on.

"I am going to make this short, and I want absolute truth from you!" Vegeta began, giving off that threatening glare he could get a patent on.

"Of course," Fasha said nervously. Vegeta softened his look slightly, but not enough for her to notice,

"Do you truly, deeply, love the boy? Or is it the lust that a lot of females are known to succumb to? I realize he was around at a maturing stage for that to happen, and my decision to use the dragon to make him a kid again didn't help that out. Think before you answer, no matter what your answer is I will accept it and you will not be harmed," he said, slowing lowering his tone from yelling to just barely shouting. Fasha's face turned to pure bewilderment, before she thought it over.

Then she took a deep breath in hesitation, "I admit, I was driven to lust around him. It may have affected my behavior and my decisions. My behavior undoubtedly affected his own, after all I was the one to come onto him. I have adjusted to the fact that I do love him, but I can't honestly say that I wasn't affected by my own instincts," she said sadly.

"Then, when this is all said and done, would you rather stay here? Or go back with your crew and help rebuild that world? As you know we wished it back from destruction, not to mention you five are Ascended Super Saiyans now. That world will need all the help it can get from that point forth since the Zerg are in that new past as well. I will not dishonor you in any way if you wish to back out now," Vegeta said, almost hinting at it. Fasha looked like she was going to cry, but held it back.

"The choice is mine?" she asked.

"Yes, I need not remind you how the boy responds to emotions. You are a part of that baggage he carries with him!"

Fasha sighed, "Then I wish to perform the ceremony of detachment once we get Verto back. I'd rather he didn't live with shame or worry because of me. It isn't becoming of a true warrior like himself, I will go back with my comrades," she said with an eyeful of tears.

"Very well, it will be preformed. For the record, I think you will make a fine mate for any Saiyan out there. If the boy weren't in such a developmental and potentially dangerous stage of his life, I would not have objected to any of this. When we find the boy, we may need you to bring him back to our side, but his will is too strong to be easily controlled, I know him well enough to assure you of that. But we also do not fully understand how Zerg infesting works, so we proceed with caution. Training at nine hundred hours!" Vegeta barked as he left the room. Fasha allowed herself to cry for most of the night, but felt better about it in the end.

-

"Amazing, how did a power like this stay hidden from our wisest people for so long?" Aldaris asked as he had produced his first ki ball and held it up. Frost was very surprised that he picked it up so quickly, he himself took a week to just find his inner power as a kid, and here this alien who had no clue about it, did it in less than a day.

"You would be surprised how many races don't know about it, a sign of weakness in many eyes," Frost grinned slightly. Aldaris ignored that for the most part as he let the ki ball float around the room.

"There, I have taught you the secrets, not that it's much of a secret. Where is the Saiyan's home planet?" Frost said with a slightly impatient tone in his voice. Aldaris didn't answer right away before producing another ki ball and extinguishing the two as he brought them together.

"Are you familiar with a planet called Earth?" Aldaris asked.

"No I am not, though my father had mentioned it a few times," Frost said, looking puzzled.

"That is the planet of Terrans, humans I mean. However, Saiyans look a lot like them, minus the strength and tail of course," Aldaris explained.

"So that is where they slayed my family? Earth, in the north galaxy?" Frost asked, getting a nod right away.

"If you want your ultimate revenge on those Saiyans, you should head there and take it out on their planet! These Saiyans are very powerful to deal with directly, I would know," Aldaris suggested.

"Maybe I will at some point, but I would much rather see them die by my own hand. They have a habit of springing up like roaches out of nowhere, even if you vaporize the nest of them!" Frost said with a slight growl.

"So, is this all there is to ki basics?" Aldaris asked, bored again.

"No, there are things like powering up to increase fighting strength and gathering enough of it to make a planet destroying ball or beam, other techniques can be applied as well. These things can be learned easily on one's own with enough training however," Frost explained.

Aldaris grinned slightly, "Good, I shall make good use of my time then," Frost frowned slightly before a beeping on his scouter went off.

"_Lord Frost, repairs to the Protoss ships are complete. They are ready to depart whenever they wish_!"

"Good, well then I suppose we shall be saying goodbye now. I have some planning to do to rid myself of a certain pack of monkeys!" Frost frowned slightly as he turned to exit the chamber he and Aldaris had been using. The Judicator's grin turned wider as he called up his Psi energy. He then turned it onto Frost in a storm of lightning-like Psi bolts, shocking the son of Frieza until he collapsed. Frost lay crumpled, seemingly unconscious in no time.

"It seems you are the fool here Frost, but no matter. I suspect those Super Saiyans will wipe the floor with you anyway. If you aren't dead by the time they get here, you will be then!" Aldaris claimed.

"Treacherous bastard!" he managed to rasp before Aldaris hit him with another Psi storm assault.

"Nothing personal Frost, but I have never lowered myself to accept another species help. The fact that I made an exception is inexcusable to me. I must thank you, now that I know the secrets of ki energy, I will be able to conquer my dimension, and then I will return to conquer this one. Good luck against those Saiyans, I think I'll leave you alive long enough to watch your own bitter end when they get here, Muhahahaha!" Aldaris laughed a very villainous laugh as he departed the room and shut the door.

-

"Croton, we're leaving promptly. I want our fleet moving within two minutes!" Aldaris ordered as he hurried towards the ship.

"Yes Judicator!" It didn't take long for the Protoss to gather up their forces since most of them stayed with the ship. Down below, Frost stumbled out of the base, looking worse for the wear as he watched the ships escape into hyperspace. A few of his soldiers came to his aid, but he stood up by himself.

"So, did you plant the explosives?" Frost asked.

"Yes sire, the long range transmitter has been sabotaged with an explosive device that will go off whenever they try to use it and their hyper drive engines will blow in about two months. We aren't completely sure where their home planet is so they may in fact get there first. That is what you asked for isn't it sire?"

Frost smiled, "Yes, good work."

"Pardon sire, but couldn't you have destroyed them before they ever left? Why allow such slime to harm you?" the soldier asked.

"I wanted the information first. As far as harming me goes, the damage isn't as bad as it seems. He only hit me with a potent technique I wasn't ready for," Frost admitted.

"Is that why you actually bothered with wearing a scouter sire?"

"Yes. Now prepare the same sort of explosive for the next Protoss ship, they will contain our Saiyan friends. But I want them to get away without confrontation. If they truly are legendary Super Saiyans, we may be no match against even one of them. Somehow I doubt that is true considering the power I have acquired over the years, we shall see soon enough. Welcome them with open arms and gladly gift-wrap another little package, however give them enough time to catch up to Aldaris. After that we will find this dimensional tear and mine the entrance and begin redrafting our forces to take back what's been lost!" Frost ordered.

"Yes sire!" the soldiers saluted.

Frost smiled at this with an evil grin that only his father could have pulled off. _So Aldaris, you think you got the last laugh. We will see when the Saiyans destroy you for me, and once we plant the mines they will be trapped in that dimension! Thus leaving me free to reconquer my father's empire, then maybe I will go after yours!_

**Next time on DBV: Verto's encounter with the Terran Dominion leaves him with doubts about his intentions and actions, and he is captured as result.**


	6. Capture

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 5: Capture**

At first I thought I was still dreaming, until I felt something cold and slimy in the warm, moist sleeping nest I had been given. I was out of the Zerg bed very fast; ready to blast whatever was in there.

"Now that is entertainment!" Kerrigan said from the door, laughing slightly. From inside the bed, a small wormlike creature about two feet long crawled out, except it seemed to have eyes, a mouth, and easily ten legs.

"That is a Zerg larva, the smallest spawn of Zerg. It can morph into any other type of Zerg, depending on what you want I guess," Kerrigan explained.

"On what _I_ want?" I asked.

"Yes, that is a special larva that can morph into an enhanced form of whatever you choose to change it into, it was specially bred by me for you. Consider it a gift," she smiled.

"You mean like a pet?" I asked, confusion written all over my face.

"You could call it that. It will be a loyal partner in battle, obey your every command, even protect you, should that need ever arise," she smirked slightly when she said that.

"My own Zerg pet, doesn't that sound great," I muttered in sarcasm.

"Depends on you I guess, not all of us are evil, only if we choose to be. Besides, when dealing with you know who, sometimes there isn't much of an option," she said in a softer tone.

"You mean big ugly?" I asked. She turned her head and looked the other way without an answer, a sign that said yes to me. The larva made its way over to me and stared with its big black orbs of eyes. If it hadn't been part of the Zerg race that I was hell bent on destroying, I might have thought this act to be slightly cute. Then it whimpered slightly, as if it wanted something.

"It wants to know what you want it to be. After all just a simple larva is useless!" Kerrigan noted. I thought it over, surprisingly I actually cared to do that.

"What's the strongest type of Zerg again, no pet of mine will be weak!" I said intently.

"Well that would be an Ultralisk, but I doubt you would want a big elephant-like creature watching over your bed every night now would you?" she asked. I quickly shook my head no.

"Like I said, this is an enhanced form of Zerg, so no matter what form it attains, it will be stronger than any other of that form. Stronger than many others if my calculations are correct. Occasionally we pool resources to spawn a stronger type of Zerg, but it takes more than we can afford to splice Zerg DNA like that. Thus we usually stick with the normal forms," she explained. _Guess she used to be a scientist too,_ I noted.

"That I did, now what form did you want?"

"Stay out of my head," I barked slightly.

"Sorry, can't help it. Form?" she asked again.

"Well I certainly don't want anything big. Zergling it is I guess, that's about the size of a dog anyway isn't it?" I asked, barely recalling since I blasted most of those apart before taking in its appearance.

"About twice as big as a medium sized dog actually. So just picture a really big dog, or maybe a deer," Kerrigan said as the larva then moved around the room.

"A deer, I doubt many deer have fangs that could chew off a human's head. Nor do they have claws the size of butcher knives," I said, giving her a confused glance.

"We were talking about size, not appearance," she said with her index finger pointed up. _Whatever._ The larva seemed to find its spot in the room, and then turned white and expanded in size until it formed an egg that was as big as I was.

"Kinda quick huh?" I asked.

"Not in this case, since it's a special breed it will take most of the day to morph. We will be busy anyway, we need to set out in search of some mineral fields and Vespene geysers!" she explained, losing me quickly.

"The what and what?" I asked.

"Oh that's right, you probably don't know about those. In your dimension, we were forced to fuel our hive clusters with forms of life, trees, plants, and animals primarily. But in this sector, many of those things are rare on some planets we come across, and this is due to the Protoss hunting the Zerg down and bombarding the planets until nothing is left alive. However there are special mineral clusters that many races use for fuel and for trade. They are large blue crystals filled with energy, and it's easier to harvest those than to always make war on other civilizations," she explained.

"And the Vessel geysers or whatever you said?" I asked as the egg made a slight shift in color.

"That's Vespene, it produces a special concentrate of gas that provides a different sort of energy. Sort of like what oxygen does for your body, this gas does for the living Zerg hives. In order for us to spawn more minions, we must harvest more resources. We need to collect several thousand samples of each to have the energy and gas to produce another Super Hive," she paused, waiting for my next response.

"So what do you need me for to do that? Don't you have little slaves running around that do that sort of stuff?" I asked.

"Yes, we need you for cover. There is a large contingent of Terran troops heading this way, representing the Terran Dominion. Which is ruled by my old friend Mengsk, here let's tune to their communications," Kerrigan said, nodding towards some sort of round pod that had a square shape the size of a small TV. It seemed to form into a video like screen, except the colors seemed a bit off. On it was some old general-like figure that seemed grumpy about something, and then the audio came in as he spoke.

"_All right Alpha squadron, spread out and scan for hostiles! Emperor Mengsk believes there is more Confederate troops around here, so its our job to flush em out! We've heard that the Zerg might have returned to Tarsonis, so should we encounter any Zerg here, we are to exterminate on sight!"_ The guy sounded like a big time hillbilly that lived so far from a city that he never heard of clean water.

"What's with the TV? I thought Zerg were all organic, no technology?" I asked right away.

"Its an adaptation really, this pod can pick up visual and sound waves inside of a transmission signal. It took many stages of evolution for me to come up with this, easily twenty generations," she explained, losing me quickly.

"And the redneck?" I asked next.

"That is General Duke, a formidable adversary to say the least. I told you about him before, and if he's in the area we could be in for some trouble," Kerrigan warned.

"I thought we had like a billion Zerg troops with us, what are you worried about?" I asked, crossing my arms slightly.

"And how many of those billion have you seen?" she asked.

"Well not that many I guess," I said, scratching my head a bit.

"Exactly, because we don't have that many with us, we don't carry the extra ground troops with us unless were invading and attacking on the drop like we did on Earth. And we cannot control that many minions anyway; two million total at the most per Cerebrate, and even that is stretching it as size of each individual Zerg also plays a factor. Even if only one Cerebrate had that many at his disposal, he would have extreme difficulty controlling them all. Only the flyers and worker drones really stick with us through space. Which means we have to spawn more just to solidify any position we hold. In short, those Terran troops are going to make it a bit difficult to gather resources," Kerrigan finished, sounding frustrated.

"Other than us, why did you approach Earth differently?" I asked, curious to know their tactics.

"That was the only reason young one, we were after you and the one named Gohan. My information told them to mass-produce troops before arrival, that's when we encountered your friend Broly for the first time. As you know, he escaped us at the time, and believe me our Cerebrates learned a lesson on how to deal with a Saiyan that day," Kerrigan explained, opening a few lost thoughts in the process. Suddenly my senses alerted me to another presence, but it wasn't in the room, it was just suddenly there with us.

"Ah, Cerebrate, you are to gather the resources as quickly as possible while fending off the Terrans. Verto will assist you in that endeavor!" Kerrigan said to the ceiling. I became aware of the Cerebrate very quickly; its un-nerving eye seemed to watch me from my own mind. It was like an annoying itch that I couldn't scratch inside my skull.

"Wait a sec, I thought we were already in some sort of Super Hive? What, do they break down all the time?"

"Yeah, you could say that. They're only good for one long trip, then they tend to die off and just fall apart eventually. Once they enter a new atmosphere or burn too much energy during travel, they break apart and cannot be relied upon. That's why we need to create another one for a space jump," she explained.

"Space jump?" I asked.

"You're just full of questions aren't you? I'll explain later, just complete your mission. And believe me these Terrans will not hesitate to fire on you, so stay on your toes!" I nodded with a grimace, I still didn't want to hurt anyone, but I would not hesitate either.

**-**

I exited the Super Hive once again, noticing that indeed the thing was beginning to die off. The walls resembled the skin of many old people, if you multiply the age by four. I was very happy to get out of the huge structure. I didn't mind the slightly closed quarters that much, but being around nothing but Zerg was starting to make me even more claustrophobic than the small egg thing did. _Then again, hanging around with the enemy is unnerving enough, _I thought as I got to see the sky once again. Kerrigan was right behind me, but stopped once she was outside, as if to send me off. I glanced at the ground, and noticed something very strange. My legs felt normal, but my two feet weren't. My boots had expanded a bit, and I could see some sort of bone and different skin tissue trying to poke through them.

"What's with my feet?" I asked sternly.

"Just some more of the Zerg tissues developing, helps harden your skin a bit and maintain stability," she explained, looking amused.

"I'd rather just tear them off," I grumbled.

"They would just regenerate now. Any infested part of you will now regenerate if damaged, thus the point of the healing chamber to heal any part that isn't partially infested. Your tail was just the start, your other limbs will follow slowly."

"Ugh, disgusting," I noted, seeing a few Zerg groundlings file out of the hive. There were several Zerglings, followed by a few Hydralisks and a few Drones. They quickly moved away and headed off in a similar direction to the base I had destroyed yesterday.

"Let me guess, I go with them?" I asked.

"You catch on quick. They will start up a small hive cluster near a mineral patch and hopefully a geyser as well. Once they get going they can provide you with extra minions to defend the base with," she said, pointing towards them.

"Why don't you send out a lot of these things? It would get the job done faster if you have multiple sources to harvest from, wouldn't it?" I asked.

"The Overmind prefers one Cerebrate work on harvesting while the others plan in meditation. It helps him control all his forces when they are clustered up like this. When we get to Char we will spread around the planet more. Now get going, and watch it out there! Duke's forces are not to be underestimated!" she warned.

"That you don't need to remind me of," I said, glancing at my very torn up bodysuit. Bodysuit wasn't a proper term now, only the leggings really remained, and they were cut up in many places, the waistline was starting to wear down as well.

"_Come, we will need your help soon!"_ the Cerebrate's voice echoed in my head, giving me an odd feeling to get going.

"Okay, just don't mess with my body anymore. I can't fight well when you do that!" I shouted at it. It didn't answer, but I got the feeling that it got the message. After all, fighting in a blind rage of bloodlust wasn't going to get me anywhere. I took off into the air, catching up with the Zerg minions quickly.

**-**

I flew overhead while the Zerg seemed to scout out a spot for a base. It didn't take long before I spotted a small cluster of large blue crystals ahead, along with a large spot of holes with some sort of green gas spewing from it ever so slightly. Judging by the reaction of the drones, this was the area we were looking for. Of the three that came, two of the drones right away scampered to the mineral clusters. The other one stopped about a hundred feet away and started to morph into something. It first attached itself to the ground, and then turned into some sort of large bug that didn't have any skin. Whatever it was, it sickened me more than any other Zerg I had seen so far. Then it swelled in size quickly, as if it was transforming. It was quickly the size of a car, then a house, then an office building. The other two drones bit around the edges of one of the mineral crystals, apparently trying to bite them off. The quickly growing drone-bug started to shape itself into a medium sized building; a tower in the middle and a large pink ground space around it like a tree would be with its roots. Then from the pink ground flowed the purple creep I had become familiar with. It spread slowly across the ground for several hundred feet, smothering whatever plants might have been there. With all this going on, I hadn't bothered to notice what the other Zerg were doing. There were only a few of them, and they seemed to be patrolling around the quickly forming base, watching for anything out of the ordinary. _Humph, as if they weren't out of the ordinary themselves._ I scanned around myself while staying a float fifty feet or so up in the air. The land looked pretty battered and beaten, most of the plant life was scarce at best.

"Must have been that war Kerrigan mentioned," I whispered softly, not caring if anyone noticed at all. I thought I heard some rustling of bushes and trees in a small forest nearby, and turned to that direction. Not far away, maybe about a half mile, I saw a few figures coming my way, slowly. There was barely an energy signal to detect, but it came in clearly as low ki energy. I heard a small growl and saw one of the large Overlords in the air, and a few of the larva eggs on the ground. The drones were more in number and were carrying large pieces of mineral into the new hive. _Well they have things in hand, I better go see what's up over there._ I started to descend and move that way, when a one of the Zerglings followed me.

"Stay here!" I said, pointing to the base. It ignored me, moving quickly in my direction.

"I SAID STAY!" I raised my voice greatly, powering up just a bit. That seemed to do the trick, it quickly stopped and backed off. Apparently it knew not to mess with me too much as it was backing down like a dog that had just been scolded. I touched down and crept forward, making my way through the large bushes and trees that separated the figures I saw and the newly formed Zerg base. I noticed a path had been worn down in the forest and the figures low ki seemed to be following it. I stayed in the brush until they got closer, watching with unseen eyes. At first they were only shadows, but soon the sunlight illuminated their forms a bit better. They appeared to be humans, but were in some sort of metallic combat suit, much like astronauts are put into. They were armed as well, many had machine gun rifles as I had seen the day before. I hadn't really seen much of the combat suits because most were vaporized before I bothered to look anything over. A few of the others appeared to have a large set of tanks on their back with a tiny hose attached to a tiny gun, which probably served as some sort of flame thrower. Most seemed on alert for any movement, so I felt I had better step out slow first and not suddenly so not to start up a conflict, after all I wanted to talk first. I did so and instantly their guns went up, but did not fire. They approached carefully, watching me with that look that clearly stated that they would fire at any moment. They got within thirty feet or so before stopping and looking me over.

"Kid, are you okay?" one asked in a slightly country sounding accent.

"Looks like he's been through hell. Which group were ya with junior?"

"He's lucky the Zerg didn't nab him out here in the middle of nowhere!"

I frowned slightly, "I'm not with any group around here," I muttered.

"Hey Chuck! What is that thing behind him, is that a tail?" One asked. I had subconsciously been swishing my tail a bit and not keeping it wrapped up, but considering it was green there wasn't much I could do to hide it anyway.

"It's Sarge or sir Bill! You're on duty, and it looks like a tail. But I've never heard of a human with a tail, maybe he's a hybrid or something. You come out of a test tube kid?" the one named Sarge said.

I growled, "No, I'm a Saiyan, not a human. And Saiyans look like them but have tails okay?"

"Hey Sarge, check out those legs, if those ain't Zerg skin then I'm a flaming pig!" _You may not be far off there hillbilly!_ I thought in disgust. Then I sensed a few presences behind me, but I didn't have to turn to see what they were.

"Sarge, Zerglings! Watch out kid, those things will get ya!" Bill said. I rolled my eyes slightly, putting my hand up to silently tell them to back down.

"This kid must be with em, must be infested or something. No one who isn't can tell them what to do!" _Wow they just now figured that out._

"Look, I don't want any trouble here okay. Just turn back and go the other way! They're just gonna harvest a few minerals and get outta here," I said, giving off a slightly threatening glare. The Zerglings behind me growled a bit at first, but seemed to sit at attention the instant I raised my ki just a tad.

"So there's a Zerg base up there huh kid? Good we need the target practice! Now get yer hands up now!" When I didn't respond to the threat, a few of them fired on the two Zerglings at my sides, injuring them. They dropped to the ground and whimpered to me in pain slightly, helpless. I felt their pain, and it stung to my soul just as if Kid Buu had come back and destroyed the earth and its people.

"Hey, knock it off! I don't want to fight with you!" I shouted at the soldiers.

"Kid, I said get yer hands up! We won't hesitate to fire on you either!" he warned. I bent down to examine one of the fallen Zerglings. It's eyes resembled a puppy dog's if its hurt or extremely sad, a small tear came out of my eye as I heard it whimper ever so slightly.

"Kid, hands up now, last warning!"

I stood up and shot the soldiers a death glare, "Do what you want with me, but do not hurt them anymore!" Even though these were Zerg, I felt no creature should be hurt without provocation, in which they had not advanced at all.

"Hahaha, this kid must have been dropped on his head too much Sarge!" _Maybe he's right, I'm actually concerned for the Zerg's welfare. Why?_

"More than likely, kill the Zerglings!" Then the troops fired, I paused, watching the small bullet fire come forth and then go past me. They hit their mark and the Zerglings cried out in pain again, making me wince slightly. Then they went silent and cold, their death swiftly hit my senses and caused me to tremble in emotional pain. Then a flood of contradicting thoughts swept over me.

_**They're dead! Good I hate them anyway**__! _

_But they were innocent, they were only doing as they were told, and they didn't attack the humans at all!_

_**So what, you hate the Zerg don't you? Well, don't you?**_

_Yes, but still. _

_**Still what? Why should you care if they die, they were worthless anyway!**_

_No they weren't, they were living creatures! _

_**If you hate them so, why do you care for them like you were one of their own?**_

_I'm not one of them! I just don't like to see innocent things get hurt! _

_**Then why cry over spilt blood? I thought they didn't matter to us anymore!**_

_No living creature should be killed without a reason! _

_**These humans seemed to have a reason!**_

_No they didn't, they killed senselessly without a clear head! The poor things didn't attack them and therefore the humans didn't have a reason to kill them!_

_**Does that mean you would help them if they were in need?**_

_I would help any creature that was in need! _

_**You didn't answer my question, would you help the Zerg if they were in need?**_

The soldiers seemed to not notice my mental tirade going on with my controlled self and the beast, and approached with their weapons pointed right at me.

"Come with us kid, we can find help for you!"

"No, stay away from me!" I whispered loudly, getting their attention.

"We have no time for this, knock him out!" the Sarge shouted. Suddenly a shock came over my body, burning my insides as well as outside. The marines were using some sort of high-level stun batons. Had I been powered up more, it would not have done anything, but since I wasn't, everything went black instead.

**A/N: Let's get this party started, next time on DBV, Verto encounters General Duke. And what happens when more innocent creatures are killed before Verto's eyes, nothing good I can tell you that.**


	7. General Duke

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 6: General Duke**

I awoke on a cold surface with a bright light shining down from overhead. I looked around to see I was in some sort of glass chamber with a few hoses and lights attached to it, probably to provide air. I noticed another problem, my shredded clothes and boots were gone and I was naked head to toe. I ignored that briefly and saw there were several humans standing around with white lab coats on, looking at several different things. Some were watching me in particular, noting my actions. Others were watching computer screens that appeared to have a display of a DNA sample, and I had a pretty good idea of who's DNA it was. The chamber must have been designed to be soundproof, but a Saiyan's senses were more attuned then a human's, so I could make out the random muffled chatter from outside.

"Just what is he? He looks human enough, but this DNA has more chromosomes then most! It has fifty-six in the chain, and the extras are made of an element I've never even seen before!"

"I wonder what purpose the tail has, if any. It's like he is a cross between a human and a monkey, only he looks to be intelligent as well judging by these brainwaves!"

"I recommend we do not let him out of the chamber for further observation, those muscular augments could be dangerous. It is definitely stronger than the average human!"

"Yes, and I'm picking up an energy signature similar to that of Psionic energy waves!"

"Maybe its some sort of new weapon developed by the Protoss, we must inform general Duke!" The nonstop chatter began to get to me when I noticed the sound waves were constantly bouncing around the chamber as more of them began to talk all at once. This caused the chatter to become a mesh of noise that mixed up the messages, giving me a headache. Luckily the activity stopped when a door opened. First a few of the human soldiers came clanking in with their heavy metal suits on, behind them came an older man with a cigar and a bit of a stagger in his step. He bore a uniform that wore many medals and other symbols of bravery.

"Have you identified the boy doctor?" he asked.

"No General Duke, his DNA is unlike anything we have ever seen before!" _Oh great, this hillbilly._

"What is he then, some sort of monkey-hybrid?" Duke asked. _Okay, that's enough of the monkey comments._

"We're investigating that as we speak sir, but I do not believe he is related to any sort of ape. This DNA strand does not link to anything we know. It resembles a human slightly, but has way too many chromosomes to be close to human!"

"What about the Zerg tissues you found on him? Is he infested?" Duke asked again.

"Again we are unsure. He looks like he is close to infestation, but it appears that they have not been able to fully spread into his system. From what we can tell, only his feet and tail have been affected, motor and thinking controls have not been affected!" Duke sighed slightly and approached the glass.

"Can he speak our language?"

"Yes I can speak it just fine!" I answered this time. This caused quite a stir in the audience.

"It seems that he can hear us, how is that possible?" one scientist asked.

"It's possible that his senses are much more enhanced, after all he is not human!"

"Duh, nice job Brainiac, how long did it take to figure that out? Now is someone gonna let me out and get me some clothes?" I asked in disgust.

"Sorry, we cannot let you out, you will remain in there for study," the head scientist said.

I rolled my eyes slightly, "Fine I'll bust my way out!"

"Doctor, can this boy do that? He looks stronger than most kids his age?" Duke asked.

"Highly unlikely sir, a Zerg Ultralisk couldn't escape from this chamber!" he boasted. I smirked slightly, and punched forward. The glass was harder than I expected, but my fist made its way through it regardless and it shattered.

"Seems your glass is ineffective to hold this boy in Doctor!" Duke said as he backed up so not to be hit by glass.

"Yes General, my apologies!"

"No need, now then boy, be good and stay there, we don't want to get nasty here! Just tell me what you are, and what your doing here!" Duke ordered with anything but a smile on his face.

"So you're general Duke," I started, catching quite a stare of attention.

"That is right boy. Heard of me have you?" Duke grinned a bit.

"Only by reputation, not that it impressed me anyway," I said, drawing a satisfactory frown.

"What are you kid, I have no time for foolish games!"

"I am a Saiyan," I said simply.

"And what exactly is that?"

"Why should I tell you old man? I thought your scientists would figure that out for you!"

Duke scowled, "So you're a Saiyan, whatever that is monkey boy. Now what were you doing with the Zerg?" I frowned at the use of the M word, which to me was now like the N word is to others.

"I wasn't doing anything with them. The Overmind and its minions turn my stomach, they captured me on my home planet. Now can I have some clothes please?" Duke nodded to one of his soldiers, who tossed me a white pair of shorts he apparently had standing by.

I rolled my eyes, "I guess that will have to do!" I shot a tiny ki beam through the back for my tail, grabbing another gasp.

"This was unexpected sir, it seems he has powers of which we don't understand!" the head doctor said.

"Yes I can see that, is he dangerous doctor?" Duke grunted heavily.

"If kept unchecked, very dangerous! I suggest we keep him sedated from now on!"

"Oh no, I'm not going to sleep just to be put under a microscope! I just want to go home!" I barked at them, backing up a step.

"Now now boy, you're surrounded here. It won't hurt a bit!" Duke said as I noticed the soldier's guns go up.

"Hey, I don't want any trouble, just let me go. I can survive on my own!" I protested.

"And allow the Zerg to know our base location, I don't think so. Put him down with the tranquilizers!" Duke ordered. The doctors came towards me with long needles with pink fluid. I jumped over them and headed right for the door. The soldiers blocked my path with their arms out to catch me. I broke through easily, knocking them aside in the process. I heard gunshots fire behind me, right before seeing small darts go by my head. I felt a few of them hit my back and arms, but they bounced off my skin and I ran faster. Then I hit a big intersection of seven different hallways.

_Well shit, guess I'll take the easy way out!_ Using my power to levitate and then charge up a bit, I shot through the ceiling quickly, bursting into other levels above the one I was on. I burst in through several different events: a troop of soldiers marching down the hall; A few on break eating dinner; a couple in a graphic lovemaking event; and several more empty halls before hitting the roof and into the outside air. _All right, now to get the hell out of here!_ I sped off towards the distance, not really caring what direction it was in.

**-**

Once I got out of the large base, I heard a loud alarm go off, followed by sounds of airplanes following me. I glanced behind me to see several flyers gaining on me. Powering up enough for my aura to show, I kicked up the speed to lose them. To my surprise, they were still gaining on me.

"Stop immediately or we will open fire, this is not a drill!" a loud audio voice came over my eyes. I stopped and the planes surrounded me. They looked to be small attack flyers, much like F-Sixteens, except they were flat and wider at the wings. Also it had some sort of gun device at the bottom, and what appeared to be missile launchers on the side. I had seen these the day before as well, and as I recalled, the missiles didn't tickle.

"Look, just let me go. It's not like I'm going back to the Zerg if I can help it, besides I don't want to hurt you guys!" I said.

"Come back to the base right now, or we will open fire!" the order came again. _Well, looks like I'll have to lose them the hard way._ I summoned more energy and powered up most of the way, catching some odd looks from the pilots when they saw my aura. Then I shot into the trees and brush below before they could even react. Once under the canopy, I concealed my ki and hid in a high tree, not moving. My best bet was for them to assume I dashed under there and then left, so when they left, I could actually do so. I also felt that they wouldn't pick me up on any radar if I didn't move. Around me there were many animals of all shapes and sizes, most of them going about their own business. Above, the planes circled, but probably could not see me, I barely saw them through the trees. I slowly descended to the ground, not wanting to disrupt anything to draw attention. When I landed, I noticed a large pack of panther-like animals roaming about. They looked most like black panthers, except they were purple in color with glowing yellow eyes. They growled at me slightly, but didn't advance. I left them alone as well, rethinking my options.

_Well I got out of there, now how do I get back home? I could go back to the Zerg, but I really don't want to. Then again they have treated me okay, it's not like their making me do evil things all the time. And Kerrigan said she could keep me from being totally infested, which seems to be going a little quicker now! _I glanced at my feet and hands now. My feet stayed about the same shape over all, but the Zerg skin around them made them tougher and oddly shaped. My hands were starting to shift in color, from a pale color to light green, and my fingernails had grown a bit to which they were sharp and pointed.

_Man, I wish I could contact Vegeta and the others, but without any technology around here, never mind knowing how to work it, I'm up a creek!_ Then it hit me, a feeling half of stupidity and another of joy. _The base, why didn't I stick around? I could have found a way in there surely!_ _But by now they would have all kinds of guards and obstacles to get past, sure I can deal with them, but that isn't right._ The panthers around me perked up suddenly and scampered about, protecting what appeared to be smaller cats, obviously their offspring. The bushes rustled some and I heard sounds of chatter. I quickly hid and watched closely.

"Man, why did we get stuck with this job?"

"Because the general wants him found!"

"But come on Sarge, hunting down a kid that can fly away? Might as well look for a single Zergling in a Protoss base, we ain't gonna find him!"

"What's that up there?" Five soldiers appeared, toting machine guns, but they didn't see me at all.

"Looks like a pride of cats, get 'em all the time around here on Tarsonis!"

"Good I need some target practice, mind if we blow off some steam on these critters Sarge?"

"Be my guest, just don't burn all your ammo down here. You never know what some of these woods hold ya know!" A few of the soldiers stepped up and opened fire. Two of the panthers stepped up to protect the others, but fell in a crumpled heap. This angered me, but I stayed down, hoping they would move on and not hurt the other ones. I was wrong, the soldiers opened fire again on the pack, cutting down easily six more of the adults. That left by my count three adults and ten cubs. I growled in anger loudly, but it seemed to be covered by a roar of anger. Out of the bush behind me came another adult panther, but this one had a large furry mane about it. It had to be the alpha male, and the entire time I hadn't even seen or sensed it. It leapt over my hiding place and landed between the soldiers and the remaining panthers.

"Whoa, it's the alpha! We can make a bundle by nabbing that mane!" one said.

"Cut it out ladies, we should be looking out for the kid!" the leader warned.

"Aw c'mon Sarge, just trying to have a little fun, and make some money at the same time. You know our pay ain't that great!"

"You'd better secure that shit marine! You know General Duke's policy about pay, he'd just assume send you back to civilian life if he ever heard you say that!"

"Good point, you wanna ice this one Jackson?"

"Yeah sure!" The marine on the right lifted his rifle and pointed towards the male, who was growling furiously.

"Time to make me rich big guy!" the marine called Jackson laughed as he fired. The male wasn't waiting for this to happen, and dodged to the side before leaping onto the marine's suit, making him drop his gun. The panther clawed and bit in a bloodthirsty haste, knocking the marine down and keeping him down. His comrades laughed at the struggle as the marine tried to get the animal off. The only advantage he had was that his combat suit protected him from the angered panther. He finally managed to kick the beast off and it landed awkwardly next to the cubs, injured.

"Stupid beast!" the marine said as he picked up his gun. The male was defenseless and soon the cubs would be. All of this action had angered me, but now I was ready to pounce at the evildoers.

"Stop it!" I yelled as I jumped from the bushes and landed between the panthers and the marines.

"It's the kid, he's been here the whole time!"

"Hands up brat, we're returning you to the base!"

"I'm not going anywhere. You will leave these animals alone, or you'll deal with me!" I growled.

"No way, I'm collecting my money off that male!" the first marine said, lifting his rifle towards me now.

"Surrender kid, there's nothing you can do except get hurt!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cub had wondered off from the pack, and was now near the feet of the soldiers.

"Hey, look, a tiny tot got lost. Too bad I'm gonna shoot its head off!"

"No, leave it alone!" I urged in panic as I saw the frightened looks on the adult panther's faces.

"Why, its just a cat? There it died quickly!" he said as he shot the cub in the head. The head exploded instantly, splattering blood into my face and hair. I paused in sadness, then wiped the blood from my hair and stared at it. The trigger to my power then clicked, and it opened up to my disposal.

"You, will pay for that!" I whispered just before I screamed.

**A/N: It's on now isn't it? Next time on DBV: Verto deals with the soldiers in his own way, but does he have enough power to take out the Dominion fleet all at once? Find out next time.**


	8. The Dominion Fleet

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 7: The Dominion Fleet**

At first I couldn't go beyond my ki powers, something was blocking Psi out just like the previous day. I pushed and pushed but couldn't activate my Psi. Then I found the source of the problem, it was the Zerg tissues that had fully moved into my tail and feet. My tail wasn't a big contributor to it, so I used my ki to power up more and push the Zerg tissue right off my feet. It didn't come off willingly, until I gave it a nice hot ki blast. It melted off and my Saiyan skin resurfaced, a bit burnt. Then my Psi opened up like a floodgate, and I assumed my Super Mystic state almost instantly once I refocused my angry emotions. Green lightning of Psi and ki put together surrounded my aura and I stared down the soldiers.

"Whoa, what the hell is he?"

"Dunno, never seen anything like this!"

"Dude, with that silver hair, we could make a bundle, let's cut some of it off!"

"Yeah, that's a good idea! Go ahead and try it!" I growled, catching their frightened attention immediately, "You will die slow for what you have done!" I pointed at the one marine in particular. Then I rushed in and punched through his armor, shredding him of it and breaking all ribs that came in contact with my fist. I had missed the leader and the others on purpose, who was calling for backup at the moment.

"All units, all units! I found the kid about three miles southwest of base. He is highly dangerous and has killed one of my squad in record time. Requesting immediate assistance to anyone who can hear my, oh no, oh god, AHHHHH!" he screamed at the end as my foot collided with his skull, killing him instantly. I phased over to the first human that I had threatened, who was having trouble breathing.

"See what happens when you pick on others that are smaller than you, enjoy your stay in hell!" I shouted, blasting him into a pile of ashes and smoke. I noticed right away that when I summoned my ki to blast him, my Psi came with it already mixed together. I hadn't noticed that before, but then again I hadn't been transformed but a few times. A ki blast alone probably would have wiped him out, a mixed blast like that was overkill. The other three, who were busy shaking in their combat suits, barely kept their rifles steady, pointing at me.

"Surr..surrender!"

"I don't think so!" I said, keeping my stare at them. They opened fire and I watched the slow motion bullets come towards me. Quick as ever, I snatched the bullets out of the air, making sure to get the ones that would have flown past me and hit the cats.

"Impossible, how did he do that?" one asked. The other two didn't answer, but all three started to run in the other direction when I gathered all of the bullets into one hand and powered some energy into them. Then I stepped into a side stance and fired them much like a baseball throw. The marines fell instantly, their own bullets came in at a much faster rate then their guns could produce, piercing their armored suits easily. I turned from the fallen marines and knelt down to the panther male, who was struggling to survive and was panting heavily. All of the panther females and cubs surrounded me. I sighed and put my hands over his chest and stomach. They glowed greenish-gold as I poured my collective energy into him. Using the healing technique I was still new at, I restored the panther's life and removed the metal shards that had injured him. I sat back and breathed heavily, making sure it worked. The male got up and licked its old wounds, but other than that was fine. I dropped my aura and smiled slightly as the females and cubs came and showed the male their love as well. Then one of the females came over and licked me in the face a bit.

I laughed and playfully pushed her off, "Hey, no problem, just watch out for those guys okay?" The entire pack seemed to appreciate my actions in saving their lives. One cub pulled over what appeared to be a rabbit and shoved it into my lap before backing off. My stomach growled just in tune, and I heated the dead rabbit with my energy to cook it. Then my stomach took over and I ate every last bit of the meat, though it didn't truly satisfy my appetite. The panther male then roared slightly, and the pack of cats crowded together and started to move out. I kept my smile on the family I had just saved and I watched them vanish into the distant bushes and trees.

**-**

I was sitting in mediation when a familiar cry of pain reached my mind. I had entered meditation to better master my Super Mystic form, after all just fighting in it for a short time wasn't going to completely master it. Not to mention it was like the third time I had reached the form, and all of the other times were very brief due to circumstance. The cry I heard reminded me heavily of the two Zerglings that I had allowed die at my side. I felt guilt along with sorrow, and the other panthers that had died came to my mind as well. I could still hear the cry of pain in my thoughts, and I was drawn to them. I rose into the air and acted on instinct, I had to save whatever was in pain. I blasted off towards it, its cry got louder as I got closer. I arrived to see many large ships and small flyers in the air, all of them Terran attack ships. They were attacking the Zerg base that had been established under my watch. Their big laser cannons were shredding the Zerg on the ground easily. The drones to collect minerals and gases had been killed as well. Their pain reached to my mind like the panther's did, and I decided to act. I shot a blast at the first attack flyer I saw, and it was destroyed quickly. This got the large fleet's attention, and they all turned to me. The small fighters came in first, firing lasers and guided missiles at me. I dodged the fire as much as I could, though the lasers managed to burn me a little. By dodging all the fire, I was unable to capitalize on their movements as they all swept in and out in a similar pattern. I stopped, letting some of it hit me as they all swept in. I phased out quickly and shot a quick beam into the pack as they almost collided with each other. That only left a few of the small flyers, and I dispatched them with the next few blasts. Then I turned to the large battleships. There had to be at least twenty of them, and judging by the armor plating, a simple quick blast wasn't going to do the job.

_Well these aren't going to be as easy. _That fact was made very clear when one shot a big laser beam at me. I dodged to the side of it, barely, and the heat from it burned my side. Another laser beam came at me, but I had time to fire another blast at it before it got too close. This ended in a mistake. The laser beam penetrated the blast and hit me in the stomach area, leaving a large burn mark and a whole world of pain. _Oh great, their weapons are stronger than average, or maybe I should take them seriously!_ I gathered my energy into my Psi Sword, except a green sword popped up instead of a blue one. _Okay that was odd, but since Super Mystic causes both energies to fuse together I suppose that should happen. I think I can still separate them, but then again maybe I shouldn't be worrying about this right now. This might be better to use at the moment._

The head ship fired again, and I swung my sword just in time to deflect it away from me. The laser vanished once I did, which felt slightly strange. _It must be the concentration of this energy in my sword, seeing as the lasers penetrated my blast last time. _The other ships turned and fired their lasers as well, but this time the effort continued. I swung my sword around and about quickly in a tight circle in front of me, striking the lasers and deflecting them before they could touch me. After several minutes of this they stopped firing, probably figured it was fruitless.

"Good, glad to see you've given up, now leave before I decide to destroy you!" I warned with a loud voice. The ships didn't respond, merely floated there, as if waiting for me to make the first move.

"Fine, but I warned you!" I shouted, sweeping in and preparing to attack. When I got within a few hundred feet of one, it turned its head towards me and locked in that way.

Then I saw some sort of red charge build up there. "Again, you must know it isn't going to work!" I challenged. Then the mother of all lasers came flying out of it, catching me way off guard. It struck with the force of Kid Buu's biggest energy attacks, and hurt just as much. I fell backwards but regained my control. My body felt like it was just steam rolled flat and managed to live through it. Then the other nineteen ships powered up a similar beam and aimed towards me.

"Oh no, not this time!" I said, flying up and away. The ships followed, and soon the giant laser beams fired and caught up to me quickly. As I was being chased by the fast lasers, I took note that they combined together to form a really big red beam. _I need a small delay if I hope to dodge this one! _

I turned and chanted, making sure the energy I was going to use stayed mixed, "KamehameHAAA!" My beam came out green and collided with the massive red one, but quickly shrank in size when the red overpowered it, mostly due to the fact that I had fired it to be a quick diversion. Nonetheless, it gave me just enough time to get out of the way of the red one as it rushed by. When I felt the heat coming from it go by, there was no doubt in my mind that it would have killed me, or at least incapacitated me. _Wow, these weapons are even stronger than the Protoss! Then again they have controlled this area awhile, I suppose they would have to be this powerful. _The ships wasted no time in firing their small lasers and pelted me while my back was turned. I fell to the ground in pain, landing harshly. I turned back up while on my knees, and my eyes widened to see the giant red beams were getting ready to fire again.

"Oh crap!" I managed to say. The attack never came. Instead a horde of orange and blue Zerg flyers came rushing in and attacked the much larger ships. The kamikaze scrounges exploded and poured acid on their hulls and the dragon like Mutalisks pounded them with chunks of hardened bone. The battleships attacked back and shot down many of the Zerg with one shot each. Their bodies struck the ground and littered the place with death. Their pain cried to me for help, and I intended to help them this time. I charged all available power into my hands and drew back for another attack, again like before both types of energy came out already mixed and ready to go. All of the ships were directly in a narrow path for one big blast, and thus I put forth nearly all of the energy I could find. This was going to burn me up with the power usage, but I felt that it was worth it. My beam turned teal-green in color due to the mixture of energy, and I noticed little specs of energy seemed to flow in around it, creating a sparkle effect. I already knew what attack I was going to use, but it was going to be so much stronger than the original that it's name wouldn't apply. As if I had it in my mind to begin with, I had a name for the new attack.

"Super Galic GUN!" I shouted, firing the green beam into the mess of battleships. The roar of power that it produced was amazing, and it tore through the lead ship like paper. I kept applying power until I saw this. Then I stopped the attack and watched my beam disintegrate the battleships quickly and sail off into space. I fell to the ground and dropped out of my Super Mystic form, panting and out of energy. I managed to sit up after a few minutes, recovering from what I had just used in power. It was a little while before I saw any Zerg come my way, surrounding me but not attacking. A large drone came up and stopped two feet away, looking at me close as I tried to get up. I stumbled and fell to the ground in front of it, as I was very exhausted. It didn't seem to mind, its huge pincers grabbed me by the waist and gently lifted me off the ground, heading for the main hive cluster.

Interlude 7.1 –Called Back-

General Duke sighed a bit when he saw the last transmission from his battleship fleet. "It seems this boy has powers that we do not understand, and if he's really with the Zerg, they may not be stopped now," his first officer said, looking a bit nervous.

"Quite correct number one, the boy is a powerful being to say the least. Being with the Zerg does not help either, prepare the remainder of the fleet to depart this burned world. We won't need to hunt any remaining Confederates here, more than likely they're already gone. Contact the capitol, and patch a private channel to the Emperor in my quarters, send a full report to him as well!" Duke ordered, marching into his office. He quietly sipped his coffee and smoked his cigar down to a nub before his transmission was put through.

"Ah, Edmond. I trust the Confederates are no longer a problem?" a voice from the screen asked.

"Yes, you could say that. Arcturus, they are not the reason I contacted you, have you received my report?"

"And read it over as well. A boy who can create energy waves without the use of technology, sounds like an old friend of mine," Mengsk grinned slightly.

"This single boy managed to wipe out most of my battle cruiser fleet, there were Zerg involved but they did not have much of an impact on the battle besides a distraction," Duke explained.

"Fine then, come back home. Sooner or later we're going to have to deal with the Zerg, powerful boy or not. Bring back all the data you have on him, no matter how insignificant," Mengsk ordered.

"Understood Arcturus," Duke said, blipping off the feed. _How did the Zerg get a hold of such a powerful weapon without us knowing, we must explore this further, _he thought, lighting another cigar.

**A/N: Next time on DBV: Verto learns how the Zerg travel through space so quickly and has a nauseating experience from it. Meanwhile Vegeta and the others approach Frost's base, what will happen there? Tune in next time!**


	9. Space Warp

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 8: Space Warp**

I awoke in the green fluid chamber again, but as worn out as I was, I didn't care. I took notice that the Zerg skin had regenerated around my feet, and now it was pushing up my legs, slowly. Accordingly, it felt like my Psi was being partially blocked again. I was in and out of consciousness for a few hours before the fluid drained from the chamber and I was able to climb out.

"Well, you're no worse for the wear," Kerrigan smiled as I climbed out.

"Right, I can just thank a few hundred laser beams for that," I said sarcastically.

"We weren't really sure what was going on when you vanished so quickly, so a few of the other broods got ready to come search for you when you suddenly showed up again and wiped out that fleet. It's a good thing you did, otherwise we would have had a lot of trouble on our hands!" she said.

"I didn't do that because I wanted to," I muttered.

Kerrigan looked bewildered at this statement, "Well then wise guy, why did you do it?" I paused, I wasn't truly sure myself why I had defended the Zerg like that, but the answer was there as I replayed the events in my mind.

"I did it, because I had to," I said, sitting down and holding my knees.

"Well that is one of the more interesting answers I've heard in my day, care to explain it?" she asked, sitting next to me.

"It's kind of hard to say. When I scouted out the humans that were coming towards the base, I told the Zerglings to stay put. I'm still trying to figure out why they listened to me at all. Then the soldiers shot them and killed them. I felt them die, and I wasn't sure what to do then. I was torn between helping and not caring, they were able to capture me because of that. Then I busted out of their base and hid in the woods for awhile, and really I wasn't sure what to do then either. I came across a pack of panthers, well what resembled them anyway. More soldiers came for me, but started killing the animals. It was the same feeling as before when the Zerglings died, only this time I acted and saved the rest of the animals. Then I felt the Zerg over here dying, I think you know the rest," I explained, shaking the cobwebs from my head.

"Sounds kind of strange, but not unlikely, most Zerg do respond to their kind being hurt or killed. So I'd say it was a natural instinct much like a parent would protect a child," she beamed slightly. I didn't answer to that, but I did have another question.

"Why do these Zerg implants need to be on? I can't use my full power with them. Sure I can use ki, but I can't use Psi hardly at all. I had to blast them off to power up all the way, and to destroy that battle fleet," I asked.

"Oh that. Well you see, pure Psi energy and Zerg tissue don't really get along with each other. They conflict a bit," she attempted to explain.

"Doesn't seem to stop you," I muttered, seeing right through the bad attempt at a lie.

"Well I'm a little different than you, the Overmind is weary of your inner Psi potential, and that is sort of an insurance plan just in case you turn against him," she said.

I sighed, "Damn thing can kill me whenever it wants to and it's worried? Well you can tell him that he better cool it with this implant shit if I can't use my full power, after all I'd like to train and master them. And I won't be able to do much if my friends do find us and want to eradicate all of the Zerg. Is that a deal?" I asked towards the ceiling with a raised voice.

"_You may use your powers as you need. As long as you don't turn against me, is that a deal?" _A loud telepathic voice told me. _Whatever._ I was far from sincere, but for now I would agree. Right away I could sense all the Psi presences around me again, which was mostly just Kerrigan. The Overmind and Cerebrates had that pure mixture of energy put together, so one could say that I got a better sense of them. The most I was going to be able to do with it is use the sword or use the mixture of power. I wasn't sure about trying to go Super Mystic again. I had to have full access to both energies as I quickly found out earlier, and I wasn't really used to Psi energy yet.

"I guess that will have to do for now," I muttered.

"Good. Now then, I suppose I better go get your gift," Kerrigan said, leaving the room for a minute.

I raised my eyebrows slightly, "Gift?" She was back pretty quick, and followed by a dark brown colored Zergling. It looked much larger than most, in fact when I stood up it was even with my height. Kind of like a really beefed up Great Dane. It's skin looked a lot tougher, and its claws and teeth looked as sharp as my energy sword.

"This is your pet that you picked out earlier, he was done morphing about an hour ago," she said, looking a bit pleased. I looked the Zergling over, it responded by rubbing its face up against my leg. I scratched it behind what I believed to be the ears, and it made a loud purring noise that sounded like a snore. I was more amazed that it would even let me touch it.

"It likes you," she smiled.

"What do I call it? I'm not going to just call it Zergling, does it have a name or anything?" I asked.

"Letch, I came up with it while you were gone, does that work?"

"Letch, the Zerg dog. I suppose it has a ring to it, except it sounds like he's supposed to be some old pervert running around. Hey cut it out!" I laughed slightly as the Zergling, Letch, had decided to engage the licking attack to my face.

"That was kind of the point, I know you have a perverted mind after all. Well you did, maybe not so much right now. Looks like you two will get along well!" she said, looking amused. The floor then shook slightly, and a loud and high-pitched noise triggered in my sensitive ears, making my ears ring.

"What is that?" I asked, plugging them.

"It's time for the Super Hive to do a warp jump, prepare yourself!"

-

"Warp jump?" I asked, lying on the floor, following her directions as she did so herself.

"I'll explain after it's over," she said, putting a finger to her purple lips. I reached out with my senses, feeling that we were back in space and away from the planet surface. I felt the outside surface of the Super hive; and it seemed to be vibrating rapidly as it started to fill with energy. It felt like the energy that had been coming off of the mineral crystals, so I could only assume that they had been able to gather enough of it with the gas to build another Super-structure. I heard the high-pitched whine of a noise again, and it felt as if my ears were just going to split apart. I plugged my ears in the process, trying to block it out as a massive migraine came to my head. Then something opened up outside the hive, but I was so pre-occupied with the noise that I barely regarded it. The hive shifted in that direction, towards the hole. Then it felt as if my insides were shifting around in positions that weren't natural to any form of life. This made me feel very queasy, and I soon forgot about the pain in my ears and clutched my gut, groaning. I glanced over to see Kerrigan's face full of grimace; apparently it was bothering her as well. I then looked back at the ceiling made of skin. It too was shifting a bit; the colors of blood and fluid were shifting around quickly. It's swirling continued until the red and brown fluid shifted into a marble like color of orange. It was kind of a cool scenery, if not for the nauseous feeling. Then everything that we had been experiencing multiplied ten fold and damn near tore me apart at the seams. I had never felt or experienced anything this remotely horrible in my life, other than death that is. It continued for what seemed like an eternity. The skin ceiling then broke and the random fluids gushed out and poured over us. This disgusting feeling allowed me to drop whatever restraint I had, and I threw up violently on the floor, barely able to turn my head in time. The terrible feelings continued, but quickly lessened in intensity, and very soon it was over.

I gasped for breath, spitting out whatever I had digested earlier, "Okay, that sucked!"

"Agreed," Kerrigan replied.

"What was that?" I asked, brushing my chest of whatever fluid had poured on it. I still had the feeling that I needed to vomit again.

"That was a warp jump, it makes most beings quite queasy. Especially the first time," she beamed at me.

"So that was my first time then, care to explain what exactly it does?" I asked, flinging random Zerg crap off of my hand.

"It allows us to travel great distances very quickly. By building a Super Hive to travel with, it can generate a field in which we can bend space and make a jump," she explained.

I looked at her cluelessly, "Can you put that into English?" I asked.

"Eng-what?" she asked. _Doh._

"I mean basic terms, I'm not the smartest in the universe," I said plainly.

"No argument there," she chuckled as I growled slightly. "Okay, what is the shortest distance between two points?" she asked.

"A straight line, why?" I asked.

"I'm trying to make you understand this. Now even if the shortest distance is a straight line, a line across the vast reaches of space still takes a long time to travel right?" she asked as I nodded.

"Good, now imagine taking those two points and bringing them together, the line to travel would not be so great right?"

"If it were possible, yes," I said, trying to get what she was saying.

"Well that's just about what we do. You see the Super Hive generates great amounts of Psionic and psychic energy, and using it, we can bend two parts of space together and jump across the fold. Kind of like a wormhole or a portal I guess, the hard part is the jump, but in doing this we can travel great distances in a short amount of time. Space returns to normal the instant we're through, do you get it?"

"Partly, sounds pretty fishy to me, but then a lot of things aren't making sense lately. I guess that will have to do," I said, trying to wipe the sticky multi-colored fluid from my body. Letch was off the floor, shaking himself off as well.

"So that's how we got away from Earth so fast isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes, granted we had to stop to form another Super Hive on one of the planets in that sector, but that's how we did it. All we have to do, or I should say all the Overmind has to do, is recall the position in space we were at, and then he can jump there. Obviously the journey to your planet was a bit different in that aspect, but he has charted most of this galaxy. While you were recovering we made two jumps during our travels away from Earth. The first was to just outside the dimensional hole that appears in space in your dimension. It can barely be seen, but there is a tear there. The other was shortly before you awoke to get moving towards Tarsonis. This jump was to another point in space that he has been near long enough to recall its location, about halfway to our destination. Now we are about a month from Planet Char, where we will be staying for awhile. In the meantime, get your rest! More than likely we will all sleep for the month, don't be surprised by it," she ordered after her lengthy explanation, pointing at the oddly shaped bed. I climbed in, still reeking of the mess the ceiling had made.

"There any chance for a shower around here?" I asked.

"Zerg cells naturally clean themselves. You won't notice the smell when we wake up again, goodnight," she said, leaving the chamber. I glanced up at the broken and dripping ceiling; to my surprise it was already bending itself back into place, slowly regenerating itself. Letch then trudged over and sat next to the bed, before lying down. At first I was a bit weary of the Zergling being there, but if anything it just acted like any loving dog would and snuggled up next to the bed. I found his warmth decreased the chilly feeling of the bed, and thus allowed me to fall asleep faster despite the horrid stench.

Interlude 8.1-Contact-

"Why yes, we would be honored to receive your ship Prince Vegeta, you may park at dock number three," Frost said over the screen. When it blipped off, Vegeta was to say the least, surprised.

"That was Frost? He looks like Cooler. I thought for sure he'd be outraged and threaten to destroy us or something," Gohan said.

"I didn't know Frieza had a son," Goku said thoughtfully. Vegeta's surprised expression did not remain.

"I remember him very well. You see, him and I were born about the same time, and we were sort of forced into a so-called friendship by our fathers. My father only did it because he knew what Frieza would do if he suggested otherwise. You could call it a one-sided friendship if you like," Vegeta stuttered a bit.

"Why was that, what did Frieza make you do?" Goku asked.

Vegeta hesitated noticeably, "It wasn't what Frieza made me do, it was what Frost made me do. We were playmates I guess you could say, but Frost would test out his fighting skills by beating me senseless time after time. Whenever Frieza asked what happened, he would claim things like I attacked him or make up some sort of trash that even Frieza knew wasn't true. After that Frieza himself usually beat me to a bloody pulp!" Vegeta explained.

"How awful," Fasha gasped.

"I wasn't finished yet. Most of the more, troubling events were after planet Vegita was destroyed. Eventually Frost would bore of that, and I thought we actually had a friendship. We would go to other planets for trade and cause all kinds of mischief in the process, much like the boys do now. This went on for several years, up until I was almost an adult but still a teenager by your standards. We would do things like spike Frieza's wine, tear up conference rooms right before a meeting, and pour itching solution down the armors of the soldiers, foolish things like that. Then we came across what we thought was a planet for purging, or so Frost said. I received a call for Frost to come back to Frieza's base, and I stayed behind to purge the planet. When I got back, I was informed that the planet we were at was actually a rich mining colony that Frieza's wealth thrived from. Frieza's beating nearly took my life, and then the public humiliation followed. Why I wasn't killed was beyond me, but I'll never forget the smirk that was on Frost's face after it was all over. After that I never associated myself with Frost, and rarely ever saw him. Though I heard reports that he and Frieza had a falling out, and he left the royal family," he finished, taking a deep breath.

"I thought you were with Nappa and Raditz most of the time?" Gohan asked.

"That doesn't mean all the time, and between our home planet's destruction and the time I had reached maturity I was not allowed around Nappa and Raditz. I was with Frost for most of that time. Sort of something to keep Frost out of the other affairs of the Kold family. He tended to object to every little detail and really drove Frieza up the wall sometimes with his opinions," Vegeta explained.

"Is he stronger than Frieza?" Goku asked first.

"That I don't know Kakarot, what I do know is that his body was genetically engineered to be far stronger than any of the Kold family, with what I don't know. So I would guess yes. But I do not know how far that power extends, he is at least as evil as Frieza was. Perhaps more so," Vegeta looked slightly concerned.

"Guess we'll have to be on our guard then," Bardock said, being the only silent one about the idea. All of them, along with the Protoss on the bridge, looked a little shaky about it as they approached the landing platform.

-

"Damn that Frost!" Aldaris shouted, and in result his energy output went up.

"But it should only take us a few months to get back to Auir even without the recall sire!" Croton explained. Aldaris didn't care about that, the fact that Frost had planted such a device on his transmitter was enough for the Judicator to blow his top.

He quickly calmed down though when he saw that his energy was beginning to create a light show around his body, "Yes, set course for Auir right away! The sooner we get there the better!" Aldaris then left the bridge and proceeded to his private chambers. There he contemplated this turn of events.

_Either he did that because he is going to come after us himself, or he is going to allow the Saiyans to do so. That must not happen, if they beat us back to Auir, everything will be ruined. And then I will not be able to track down the Saiyan Verto or the Zerg. Damn that Kerrigan, damn that Frost, damn it all! No, calm yourself, getting angry does not help the situation. We must press on to Auir first. Should we come across the boy and the Zerg we can deal with them then. I must use this time to develop my new powers, I can already feel my body strengthening itself, I just need to master the power. We must make haste and not come across any other distractions, some things out here can be worse than the Zerg._ Aldaris resumed a meditative phase, concentrating his ki around him. Outside the ship, in space, a shadow of unluckiness loomed over them, smiling at their dismay, and it would soon reveal itself by luring them to it.

**A/N: Next time on DBV: The gang arrives on Frost's planet and are treated to a feast provided by the son of Frieza. Vegeta lets off some steam, only to discover some of Frost's true power in the process. Next time.**


	10. Frost's Hospitality

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 9: Frost's Hospitality**

"So this is what one of Frieza's bases look like, pretty clean around here," Goku noted, though no one really paid it mind. The main door opened and a horde of foot soldiers marched out, but stood at attention and off to either side of the Z-team. Goku and the others eyed the door; they all felt a higher power behind it. Tassadar stepped off the ship to witness everyone's edginess, wondering what was up himself. Then Frost stepped out, a slight smile on his face as he approached the Saiyans.

"Greetings, friends, I am Lord Frost. I trust you will be comfortable here while your ship is being repaired. Pardon the mess throughout the base, we are remodeling some of the entertainment sections and they are closed for right now, my apologies for that. We have the finest cooks in the eastern galaxy ready to prepare your meals at a moments notice, so don't hesitate to ask," Frost began, hinting at every Saiyans favorite habit.

Goku of course couldn't help himself, "Food, where? Where?"

"Kakarot, not now," Bardock whispered in his ear. Vegeta, standing in front, stared Frost down, almost wanting to attack him now.

"Prince Vegeta, its been a long time. Kind of hard to believe that you are still alive, but no matter, this universe is full of surprises isn't it?" Frost grinned as he spoke. Vegeta grunted for an answer, not that Frost really expected any less judging by the glare that Vegeta was giving him.

"So Vegeta, which one was it?" Frost asked.

Vegeta's eyes managed to escape the narrow position for a split second, "Which one?"

"Which one defeated my father in battle on Planet Namek?" Vegeta rolled his eyes a bit, while Goku jumped up and down raising his hand.

Gohan smacked the side of his face, "Dad, not now!"

"What of it Frost?" Vegeta asked, snapping back to the point.

"Always in a hurry eh Vegeta? I just wanted to know, I can see how father would underestimate him, anyone would," Frost sneered a bit under his smile. That got Bardock's attention, but he didn't make a sound, neither did the now scowling Gohan. Tassadar decided to make his way into the conversation at this point, stepping up beside Vegeta.

"I am Executor Tassadar of the Protoss," he began respectfully.

Frost's frown appeared, "Ah yes, the Protoss. I don't suppose you are looking for one Aldaris are you?" Frost asked. His frown faded to slight concern when Gohan growl reached his ears.

"Yes and no. We're actually looking for a friend of theirs first, we can worry about Aldaris later," Tassadar said, glaring slightly at Gohan.

"I advice caution when dealing with that crafty one. He was here not long ago, his ship was not working properly as well, and he was asking about how to channel ki energy. I did not detect any significant power levels with him, so I taught him in exchange for precious goods he had on his ship. Little did I know that he would stab me in the back later when I wasn't looking and take me down with a strange energy source I could not detect before. He is on his way to some planet called Auir, past the dimensional wall. What he doesn't know is that we sabotaged his transmitter and his engines will quit working in about two months!" Frost chuckled slightly at this thought.

Everyone's eyes shot open at this turn of events, "You did, that's excellent! Now we may be able to beat him back to Auir!" Tassadar was just thrilled at this turn of events.

"Yes, you should have ample time to catch him. In exchange for parts and port here, destroy him for me. I'd do it myself, but we are unfamiliar with that dimension, and frankly we don't have much of an army left, mostly a trading port now," Frost said.

"Then let's get this show on the road," Vegeta said, nodding in agreement. Goku was very bewildered by Vegeta's sudden interest to cooperate with the son of Frieza. So he sent him a telepathic message, something they could do ever since they had been fused. He knew Vegeta's reaction wouldn't be good, but he did it anyway.

"_So, why did you agree so fast Vegeta?"_

"_Argh, because Kakarot, I'd like to get away from this cretin without incident. I'd much prefer to tear him to shreds, but that will get us nowhere with no ship parts and no mechanics on this blasted ship. Besides, if Aldaris is stalled out somewhere, we can catch up to him quickly!"_ Goku promptly shut up, and allowed one of Frost's officers show him to the mess hall. Frost issued his orders to his soldiers, and everyone split up, off doing their own thing, for the Saiyans being eating mostly. Vegeta however did not move, nor did Frost. Neither said a word for several minutes.

"How about a spar, Vegeta, for old times sake!" Frost suggested.

Vegeta didn't really answer, but then grinned, "Sure, I'm game!"

-

"Now I must say, you have really improved since we last did this!" Frost said as he was dodging punches from Vegeta. But in a surprise, it was Vegeta that was more shocked than Frost was. Not only did Frost not panic when Vegeta went Super Saiyan, but kept up with him at Super Saiyan two. The Saiyan prince didn't want to show off the third level if he didn't have to, it was a form he didn't like all that much because of the time limit that he could stay in it. He didn't mind the challenge though, fighting nothing but Zerg warriors for the past month had been getting pretty dull. None of the sparing matches with Goku seemed to ease that.

"You like that huh Frost? Good, I haven't been this worked up in a long time!" Vegeta faked a grin and charged into Frost's stomach, knocking him backwards. Frost launched a death beam at Vegeta, who knocked it aside with a small ki blast before firing a few more at Frost. He dodged aside before phasing in behind Vegeta and whipped the back of his head with his tail. Vegeta went flying into the wall of the battered and beaten arena, leaving a large dent.

"Whew, I think that's enough. It's been a quite awhile since anyone could challenge me in this form. I guess I can thank you for that Vegeta, I learned to constantly train hard to better myself!" Frost admitted. Vegeta however wasn't quite finished, he heard Frost's breath coming heavy, and he wanted to hear the alien surrender. He raised his power as high as he could at level two, phasing around the room at different points. Frost could follow with his eyes, but didn't appear to be able to sense energy like Vegeta could.

This eventually helped the Saiyan appear behind Frost with a ki blast next to his ear, "Yield!" Frost took a second to pretend he was shocked, glancing back at Vegeta.

Frost begged off, "Yeah, you got me, nice move! You Saiyans sure have increased your powers dramatically since the old days!" Vegeta's eyes narrowed as he powered down and dropped the ki blast. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must tend to some matters," Frost said, leaving the room. Vegeta's glare never wavered as he watched Frost vanish around the corner as the door closed.

-

"I don't know guys, I don't trust Lord Frost," Fasha whispered as her, Tora and Bardock sat at one of the mess hall tables. Goku and Gohan were just down from them, tearing into the food like it was a last meal.

"None of us do Fasha, keep your voice down," Bardock whispered back as he glanced at the guards outside the door.

"But why is the prince trusting him this much? Judging by the power levels we sensed earlier, he could easily be a threat to us. I say we bail now!"

"Frost is also no fool, and unlike his father, he knows not to underestimate us. Prince Vegeta knows that as well, so it is more likely he will let us go without impeding our path. After all the Kold family was all about profit and control, getting in our way will not bring any sort of profit to him!" Bardock warned.

"But what if he can transform into a higher form, we all know Frieza could do that!"

Tora then broke his own silence, "Highly unlikely Fasha, according to Gohan, he's already in his fourth form, and the fact that he can conjure this much power is already far beyond what his family could do. I've never heard of anything beyond the fourth form of Frieza, even if he could somehow surpass Kakarot, Prince Vegeta, or Gohan, we still have that fusion technique at our disposal. From what Kakarot told us, it would certainly surpass anything that Frost could throw at us, so don't worry. It is not becoming of a Saiyan anyway! You've been around the boy too much Fasha! All of that emotional baggage could get you killed someday, its like you're a worthless housewife," Tora commented. This earned him a very hard slap in the face that sent him across the room. Gohan and Goku glanced up from their food in surprise.

"What do you think he did to deserve that son?" Goku asked.

"Probably something she didn't like, you know how Mom gets Dad," Gohan said, returning to his food and trying to ignoring the groaning Tora that was trying to sit up.

"Now that's the Fasha I remember!" Tora chuckled while tending to his bruised face. Vegeta then strode into the room, fresh off his spar with Frost.

"Your highness!" the guards all bowed slightly.

"Leave us now, all of you!" he barked at the guards and the servants that rounded the room. They left quickly and silently, closing the door behind them as Vegeta had made his presence into the room.

"What's up Vegeta?" Goku asked, confused.

"Nothing is up Kakarot, we need to discuss a few things that's all!" Then Vegeta discussed what he had been thinking about, which including separating Fasha and Verto from the mating bond, as well as his plans for Aldaris and the Zerg.

"Undo the mating bond huh? Did you hear that Fasha? You're free now," Tora grinned as he put an arm around her shoulder. A few of his ribs were likely broken from the elbow she gave him.

"Not yet I'm not, so cool your tail!" she warned as she bared a few teeth at him.

"Getting back to the point. You want us to forget about the Zerg, we've got to wipe them out!" Bardock pleaded.

"No, we may not have the power to do it alone. Remember what Broly did, and he was the strongest out of all of us at the time. It still wasn't enough because the blasted thing regenerated from nearly nothing! No the right course of action is to retrieve the boy, granted he hasn't been turned over to their side or something. If we run into Aldaris on the way, we will deal with him then. Otherwise we will get the boy and then come back to this dimension as quickly as possible. We still have to wish everyone back from all of this shit, and then return you three and the other two back to where you belong," Vegeta said, crossing his arms.

Gohan didn't really like this plan, and voiced his opinion, "Aldaris will just come back for us Vegeta, let's take care of him now!"

"Sit boy, and mind your place, we don't have time for one of your foolish tantrums. I understand your will to want to slaughter that blasted Templar for what he has done. But understand this, our first priority is Earth, and nothing else. Everything else is secondary!" Gohan calmed himself once Vegeta said this, but kept his face very serious.

"What about Frost?" Goku asked next.

"Disregard him until he gives us reason. While I utterly despise any member of Frieza's family or empire that still lives, destroying him would be more harmful than helpful. I know of many allies that he has in this part of the galaxy, they could make our lives, difficult at best," Vegeta grunted, thinking about having to fight all of the beings he was thinking of. He lifted his head slightly, "The goal of this will be to come back here as quickly as possible, but we may not have any other choice if Aldaris and the Zerg become a problem. Since Frost has crossed paths with Aldaris already, it could create a potential buffer zone here in this galaxy to the point that we may not have to deal with him. Somehow I don't think it'll happen this way, but we should hope for the best," Vegeta claimed with a speech that truly didn't fit him as a person. No one else spoke up at this point, seemingly understanding.

"Alright then. I'll inform Tassadar of our plan, we leave in the morning!" Vegeta said. The team then left the mess hall and headed back to the ship. Little did they know that behind one of the many Kold family portraits, two eyes moved, and its mouth smiled. _Excellent, while they are gone, I will be able to retake father's empire unhindered. _

**Next time on DBV: Gohan and the others cross the threshold between dimensions, the Zerg arrive on planet Char, and Aldaris discovers Verto's position and begin to close in.**


	11. Judicator's Discovery

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 10: Judicator's discovery**

Vegeta was somewhat surprised to see that Frost had let them go without a hitch at all, and even more that he held a celebratory event for their departure. The Saiyan Prince still suspected something from this, but who wouldn't. In any case, his suspicions were revealed a week later when he had the engine compartments inspected. While digging around in there, the Protoss officers found something they didn't recognize.

But Vegeta did, "It's a explosive device wired to the hyper drive systems, and is set to disable it at a certain time. Let's see, a few months from today. He must not have been lying about Aldaris backstabbing him, he must want us to catch up to him and eliminate the threat he poses," he explained to the others.

"Let's remove it then!" Tassadar nodded to his officers, who readied a few cutting tools to do so.

"No, don't touch it! If it's removed improperly, it will trigger the bomb! I don't think you want to be floating out in space do you?" Vegeta snarled.

"Well we can't wait a few months, we must be rid of it now!" Tassadar claimed.

"Bardock, Gohan, use those semi-impressive brains and figure this out," Vegeta ordered, moving out of the way himself. A loud alarm then triggered and the room darkened and flashed red.

"We're almost to the dimensional wall, back to the bridge!" Tassadar ordered. The crew remained at their posts, as did Gohan and Bardock, but the others retreated back to the bridge, where the other officers sat at their consoles.

"Fifty thousand kilometers to the wall Executor!" one said while reading his console.

"You four might want to hold onto something!" Tassadar warned as he sat in his chair. The ship stayed its course, still seeing nothing but blackness in space.

"Hey I think I see something ahead!" Goku pointed out. Indeed he saw something the resembled a thin blue line that stretched easily the length of a few planets. As the ship got closer, the line started stretching up and down, until it suddenly exploded into a tunnel of light. Everyone gasped in wonder. The hole was pink and purple in the middle, and the outside was a slowly swirling blue light.

"Quite a sight isn't it?" Tassadar asked.

"Yeah," Goku said, his eyes excited.

"Make for the center, Krator!"

"Yes Executor!" the Zealot answered, punching the course in. The ship accelerated again, and entered the tear in space. Behind them the hole sealed itself again, looking like nothing had happened. Everyone's eyes, including Vegeta's widened once they were inside, staring at the screen. The turbulence hit and they were all holding onto anything they could. The view provided a quickly turning swirl of blue with a white light at the end of the tunnel.

"Wow, this is cool," Tora said.

"And bumpy," Fasha added.

"We're about to exit," Krator announced a few minutes later. And they did, in the same fashion that they had entered. Once again they were treated to the black silent space, except the stars were all aligned differently.

"Welcome to this dimension," Tassadar smiled slightly, though it was hard to tell that he had changed facial expressions at all.

"That was a fun ride, can we do it again?" Goku asked in excitement.

-

"Fasha no, what have I done? Someone please help me!" I shouted as I awoke in the Zerg bed, dripping sweat. I had just had another nightmare, but it was a repeat of one I had had before. It reminded me of the one that saw me killing Fasha, willingly. I growled slightly at that thought, _nothing in the universe could make me do that_! It had more to do with something I would hate even more; I was going around random planets, infested and destroying the life on them, including Earth. The vision regarding Fasha just happened to be at the end. I shook the dreams from my head, it wouldn't do any good to dwell on them, Piccolo and Vegeta always told me so. Letch was sleeping peacefully at the foot of my bed, shifting like a dog would when it dreams. I slowly crawled out, waking him in the process. He rolled slightly as if he wanted me to rub his belly. I did so, getting another interesting purr out of the Zergling.

"I guess it is just like having a dog, if not for the rough skin, the six inch fangs and general desire to chew something in half," I noted, giving it a strange look as I said it. The wall opened up suddenly, and Kerrigan stepped in.

"Ah, you're awake. Here's your breakfast since you haven't eaten in a month," she said, tossing me the same crocodile like critter I had eaten before. I bit into it just to satisfy my growling stomach. She tossed one to Letch as well, who sniffed it before tearing it apart.

"Its beenth a month alreffy?" I asked with a full mouth.

Kerrigan wrinkled her nose slightly, "So, are you ready to leave now?" she asked as I polished off the small animal, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Spreading out a little bit, so pretty much wherever. We need to find a suitable location for our Cerebrate's base of operations, where he will settle until we leave this planet, come on," she motioned as I stood up.

"Wait, we've landed already? I didn't feel anything," I claimed. Kerrigan didn't answer, but did wave me on to get out. Letch didn't waste a breath in following us out the door.

**-**

She wasn't lying about there being no civilians, only a truly crazy person would live on this planet. I also saw why they called it Char. There was nothing but ash-covered ground everywhere. It seemed to be snowing, only it was ash falling and not snow. There were volcanoes everywhere, and most of them were active. I stretched out with my senses, getting nothing except Zerg signals in return.

"What a shit-hole," I muttered a bit too loudly.

Kerrigan only chuckled, "Get used to it, it's your shit-hole as well."

"Yeah thanks for the reminder," I said, kicking a rock on the ground. Letch pounced and went after it, leaving me and her alone. I glanced behind me, seeing the Super Hive starting to break down, only now pieces of it were falling off and hitting the ground. On contact it turned purple and became creep.

"Well, shall we go then?" she asked.

"Where to on this planet, hell what is out here anyway?" I asked louder, getting a small echo in return.

"Nothing, we do need to find a suitable place for our Cerebrate to be and build up a base around him. This is preferably near a large cluster of minerals and Vespene geysers. Never know what is going to follow us here," Kerrigan noted a bit of warning at the end of that statement.

I raised an eyebrow slightly, "Well I can say this, no one would think to look for anyone here. This has got to be the absolute worst planet I have ever been on!"

Kerrigan shrugged, "It could be worse, you could be sitting on a pile of fresh corpses that you had just killed!" _She just has to rub it in doesn't she?_

"Yes," she smiled slightly.

"Stay out of my head, or I'll blast yours off!" I threatened.

"Whatever. Come on, let's get going. I'd prefer to be a good ways from here before the rest of that decomposes and splatters everywhere!" She didn't have to tell me twice, and we set off on foot with Letch and a few drones.

**Interlude 10.1 –Detection**

"General Duke, our scanners picked up the Zerg on the planet Char. It's the whole swarm, spread out on the surface!" Duke lifted his cigar from his mouth, showing plague filled teeth with years of torment caused by smoking.

"Excellent, make ready to leave immediately! Is the ion cannon almost ready?" Duke asked.

"Yes sir, we should have it functioning before we depart!"

"Good good, I want to make sure nothing gets off that planet. We're going to kill these things at the root with no mistakes this time!" Duke said to his officer.

"General, I've got something approaching on radar, also going towards Char!"

"Identify!"

"It's a Protoss ship, most likely a command ship. But there is not fleet with it, as least none that I can see. They shouldn't be a problem, but it looks as though they will arrive on Char in about one week!"

"Hmmm, a few days before we do. Interesting that they should show up without sufficient firepower to wipe out all of the Zerg at once, they must have finally lost it. Never mind them, should they interfere with our plans then we shall take care of them, until then our main priority is the Zerg!"

"Yes sir!" several acknowledged at once as Duke sat back in his chair.

_Hmmm, the Protoss, but without a sufficient fleet, what threat do they pose? Surely they know they don't have enough fire power with them. Something doesn't smell right about this, _Duke thought to himself, watching his ships jump into hyperspace.

-

"Judicator, we have detected the Zerg!"

Aldaris snapped out of meditation in a heartbeat, "Where are they?"

"Just nesting in on the planet Char. The observer that has been trailing them reports that they have spread out across the planet, and their numbers will be thinner as result!" Croton explained.

"Excellent, how long until we arrive at Char?" Aldaris asked.

"About one week sire, give or take a day," Croton replied.

"Good, inform me if you can detect anything other than Zerg signatures. I want to know if that boy is still alive!"

"Judicator, my scanners are picking up something else headed for Char!" another Templar announced.

"Great, what now?" Aldaris muttered.

"It identifies with the Terran Dominion's ships. It appears to be a large fleet with a fully functional ion cannon in tow!"

"Argh, how long till they get to Char?" Aldaris growled.

"We will arrive a few days before they do sire!"

"That may be all the time we need before these Terrans try to destroy all of the Zerg at once, stay on course and speed! I want to get to Char as soon as possible!" Aldaris declared.

"Yes Judicator!"

"Until then, Croton, come with me. It's time we had a chat with the monkey!" Aldaris ordered, standing and heading for the nearest elevator shaft. Croton nodded nervously, following Aldaris off of the bridge.

**-**

Aldaris waited impatiently inside the large room. He had ordered everything be removed from the cargo bay and that the space doors be reinforced, just in case something went wrong. He fully expected to beat the Saiyan easily, though he planned on keeping him limited on power. According to his assistant, he could control the amount of ki power the Saiyan produced by percentage. He had decided earlier that he would not go beyond seventy percent power, just in case he underestimated the Saiyan's abilities.

"Wake him!" Aldaris snarled as two Zealots dragged in the Saiyan Shugesh, out cold. Croton injected something into the Saiyan, and he slowly roused.

"What do you want now? Another beating, go ahead you coward! It'll take more than your pathetic guards to make me talk!" Shugesh spat once he saw Aldaris.

"I have another idea dear boy. You're finally going to get your chance to defeat me, like you've been boasting about ever since we snared you!" Aldaris grinned slightly, taking off his long robe to reveal his golden armor.

"Judicator, are you sure about this?" Croton asked with caution.

"Yes I am sure, leave us! I will tell you what power setting to adjust to. Get out, it's high time I've tested this new power of mine!" Aldaris barked, getting an instant reaction. The guards and Croton left, the latter retreating to a higher post on the upper side of the cargo bay. Shugesh stood up far from easily, his knees did not want to obey him, but his will power was enough for him to stand on.

"Now then Saiyan, we are going to fight in this cargo bay. I want you to come at me like you would an enemy!" Aldaris dared while waving one hand forward.

"You are an enemy, like I need coaxing to know that. I will take your life, slowly," Shugesh growled. Aldaris wasn't quite sure of what to make of that response. Shugesh looked like he had been to hell and back. His body was beaten up, many bones were broken, and he was beginning to slim down due to lack of food. They only fed him once a day, and it was hardly what he could call a snack.

"Here's the rules before you begin your pathetic struggle against myself. You will be allowed a portion of your power back so I can truly test my new ki powers. Do not blast at the walls, unless you'd like to end your life quickly, for it will suck you out into space!"

Shugesh grinned slightly, "Better I do that then continue any suffering or torment you had in mind! I'd rather be dead and with my comrades again anyway, besides I'd take you with me and do Gohan a favor!" Shugesh raised a hand towards the door.

"Not so fast young fool. This armor is programmed to give me an air supply if I should so need, even in the cold vacuum of space. So I'm afraid it will be a worthless death! Now shall we get started, or do you need a banana first, monkey?"

Shugesh's grin dropped to a threatening glare, "No need for insults, you will forever regret challenging me Aldaris!"

"Croton, adjust power setting to twenty percent allowed!" Aldaris ordered. Instantly Shugesh felt some of his ki come back to him, and the collar around his neck lessened its grip greatly. Shugesh didn't waste an instant in bringing it out and powering up, a blue aura shown around him. He stood up sturdier as a result.

"Come now Saiyan! If you think that pathetic light show is going to scare me into submission, then I've got bad news for you!" Aldaris claimed. Shugesh finished the powerup quickly and took in a deep breath. Indeed, he wasn't even to his Super Saiyan level yet, but he was at about half of his full power in normal form, which suited him just fine.

"Now Aldaris, feel the wrath of a Saiyan!" Shugesh announced, flying straight at the Older Templar.

**-**

Croton watched the fight from above in a lookout station. Initially, Aldaris had an advantage, whenever the Saiyan punched or kicked at him, he dodged aside or parried the blow with his own arms. He thought Aldaris had been blocking with the armored wristbands, but he saw in fact it was with his own flesh. Croton wasn't sure if Shugesh was taking it easy and playing with him a little or not, he didn't really want to find out. Aldaris was doing fine until he tried to attack back. When he tried to throw a ki blast, the Saiyan started showing his true speed. It was like a fly around a farm animal, and Aldaris was definitely the latter. Shugesh dived in and out as Aldaris did nothing but shoot ki blasts at him, not hitting once.

"What's wrong Protoss, am I too fast?" Shugesh asked as he phased out from another one. Aldaris was beginning to lose his breath and panted slightly.

"How can this be? I was to realize once I found inner ki I would be superior! How can I, the Judicator, be losing?" Shugesh stopped long enough to answer his question, his arms folded with a grin on his face.

"Just because you've learned how to use your inner power doesn't mean you can be a warrior just like that. And here I thought you might actually provide some entertainment for me," he chuckled slightly.

Aldaris's frown deepened, "How do you master such an energy then, surely there is some procedure you have to follow!"

"There is, it's called training and experience, of which you have none!" Shugesh said as he floated down with his arms crossed. Aldaris' face fell, he knew what he had done wrong. _Blast it all, I shouldn't have been so hasty with Frost, I never learned how to properly use this energy. Other than making beams and exploding blasts, I didn't think this one clear at all, Adun has frowned upon me._ While he was going through his thoughts, Shugesh phased out again. Aldaris looked around for him, not seeing the Saiyan's double fist smash coming down on his head. Aldaris swore he heard his own skull crack under the blow, and now he truly knew what it was to fight a Saiyan without proper knowledge and skills.

"Damnit, its just like with the boy, one blow can be fatal. You won't beat me!" Aldaris announced as he rose again.

"This is pitiful, I'm not even going to break a sweat here Aldaris, and I'm the one who is injured. Why would you think you can even defeat a child when you redefine the word pathetic!" Shugesh taunted as he phased out again. He reappeared behind Aldaris and kicked him across the room, leaving a dent in the wall. Then he charged a ki blast in his right hand.

"Hope you've said prayers to your gods, its time to meet them!" Shugesh declared. Aldaris choked on his own blood, but shot his palm up, using a technique he was more familiar with. Instantly blue bolts of Psi flowed from Aldaris' hand, surrounding and shocking Shugesh until he was down and helpless. Aldaris took note that his Psi energy came forth even faster and stronger than before, a fact that he would keep to himself.

"Judicator, should I turn the power back down?" Croton asked over the intercom speaker.

"No need, the Saiyan is down," Aldaris managed to choke out as he held the Psi storm over the fallen Saiyan, who was still awake but helpless.

Shugesh grinned, "W-what's, ow, wrong old man? Have to resort to your magic tricks already, I guess you really are a coward down deep, I can smell your fear!" Aldaris kept the containment on Shugesh and stepped towards him, drawing up more power and shooting the Psi lightning out of both hands now.

Shugesh grinned even more despite the pain he was in, "You will never discover true fighting skills, your bodies are far to frail to channel any sort of power!"

"That may be true, Saiyan, but how about we find out!" Aldaris shouted, letting a large amount of Psi come from his hands. The pulse of Psi quickly surged into Shugesh and he went into a fit of spasms. Shugesh stopped moving after only a moment or two as the shock of Psi shut down his bodily functions quickly and he fell lifeless. Aldaris dropped to the floor in pain and exhaustion as Croton and the guards entered the room.

"Here, Judicator. Let us help you to the medical wing," one Zealot said.

"Save that specimen Croton, see if you can resuscitate his body, but keep him under," he managed to say as he started to pass out from exhaustion.

"What exactly are your plans for this Saiyan, Judicator?" Croton asked. Aldaris didn't answer, only allowed the guards to cart him off, wondering what he could do now.

**-**

As Aldaris hovered in the tiny isolation chamber, his thoughts flowed like a river full of questions and theories. _If I cannot increase body strength, I will have to come up with another solution. Then again, I do have the basics of ki now. My Psi storm technique was stronger than ever out of my anger and desperation. Is it possible to channel Psi energy in the same way? With a Templar's high amount of energy, it should produce a similar outcome to counter a Saiyan's massive amounts of ki since we Protoss possess a large amount of Psi. Then perhaps I could try mixing the two, after all the boy did it and it enhanced his powers greatly._ Aldaris now smiled to himself, _Maybe, Saiyan, maybe I don't need to be such a physical presence on the field of battle after all._

-

I gazed over the desolate lands of the planet Char. Not once did the scenery change to anything different, it was either plains of gray ash, cold lava, or hot lava. A volcano here and there, maybe erupting, maybe not. Not one sign of life on the unstable rock of a planet, hell even the sky was dark with clouds of sulfur and smoke.

"In case I didn't say it before, what a shit-hole!" I declared, catching Kerrigan's gaze.

"Yeah, I heard you," she muttered. She was currently overseeing the formation of a Zerg hive. Nearby a large patch of minerals and a gas geyser loomed, just waiting to be harvested. We had traveled about a three days walk for any normal human, a few minutes for myself. So we were probably about seventy to eighty miles away from where the Super Hive once stood. On the way out, I noticed that I could not feel the Overmind, or the other Cerebrates, save for the one that came with us, floating in an overlord above.

"Not that I care, but where did the others go?" I asked.

"I told you we tend to spread out, most of the Cerebrates go with the Overmind and stay around him when nested. However we and two other broods separate from the groups and form our own little colonies around the planet, for better protection you could say. While the five other Cerebrates around the Overmind provide ample protection for him, the three others must fend for themselves. That way we have establishment in other places as well, I'm sure you understand," she grinned.

"I guess, but having your forces in divide and conquer mode doesn't always work, I'm sure you guys understand that as well," I fired back, though not in an angry mood.

"You Saiyans made that very clear, attacking en mass on your forces didn't work well either. So I guess its pick and choose against those who can fight," she smiled again as the hive began to sprout from the ground.

I rolled my eyes again, "You know that my friends are going to find me eventually, don't you?"

"Maybe they will, and maybe they won't. The universe is a big place to search, especially when they have two dimensions to look through," she noted as the hive's tower began to grow larger.

"Right, well I'm gonna go check this place out. I'll come back later," I said, hovering off the ground. Below, Letch ran on the ground, jumping over rocks and large cracks, following me wherever I went.

**Power levels:**

**Shugesh: 35,000,000 (full power reduced by lack of energy and injuries)**

**Aldaris (ki only): 1,000,000; Psi power: 70,000,000+ **

**A/N: This was originally two chapters long, but I decided to combine them into one because they were so short. **

**Next time on DBV: Verto encounters a very hostile alien race on Char and helps a lone marine fight them off and escape. **


	12. The Caves

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 11: The Caves**

Letch and I continued onward around the desolate wasteland of rock and dust. Frankly there wasn't anything on the surface that was interesting at all. I kept my speed down so the Zergling didn't get left behind, though I wasn't sure why I cared that much about it. After about an hour of rather slow flying, we came upon a thick mountain range. I glanced around and spotted a cave at the base of one of them. I descended upon it just as Letch caught up, catching his breath with a thick pant.

"Wear ya out boy?" I asked with a grin. The Zergling groaned a bit in response. I glanced into the cave, seeing nothing but darkness. An odd feeling hit me, some sort of life form that I could not sense earlier was now showing up, from the cave. I stretched my senses out more, and extended to read as much of the cave as I could. A dark and semi-evil feeling came off them, and I could tell that there were a lot of them. I heard a loud bang of thunder above me, and saw that the smokey clouds were thickening up, and that it was starting to darken a bit outside, but not much. Letch took a sniff of the cave and right away started growling at it. I still couldn't see or hear anything coming from the cave, but that eerie feeling sure did stick like glue.

"Well, whatever is in there is gonna wish it wasn't if it messes with us, let's go boy!" I said, leading the way. I stopped just as the Zergling went by, realizing what I just said and wondering why I would ever show attachment to any Zerg. _Okay either the Zerg genes are screwing with my head, or maybe its because I'm that nice to all creatures at first. But it's not like they're going off on a murder streak right now, besides it's their masters who are evil. _

Once I decided to quit the mental argument and proceed, Letch took the lead and proceeded forward. Once in the darkness of the cave, I could see much better thanks to Super Saiyan senses. Not that they help total blackness that much, but if anything moved I was going to pick up on it quickly. I heard breathing sounds coming from deeper in the cave. Thunder came again and I heard a rain start to fall. How there was rain on this planet I couldn't help wonder, but it was sure to be acid rain with all the ash and sulfur in the air. Letch stayed just ahead of me, not moving until he knew I was right behind him. Then he stopped and hissed furiously at the air. Dead silence the instant his noise ceased, but I started making out shapes in the darkness, and they were slowly moving towards us. I became more wary, and started raising my ki. The creatures stirred even more, and Letch readied himself to pounce. I still couldn't totally make out what these creatures were, but the ever-growing hostile feeling told me enough. I dropped into a fighting stance, ready for whatever these things had. Then I suddenly felt a presence behind me, more familiar to say the least, but whoever it was, they were already close enough to catch me off guard. The ki I felt off this being felt very human to me, and semi-full of good intentions, or so I thought.

"And you are?" I whispered, not taking my eyes off the blackness of the cave.

"When I throw this, run for the door, or you'll die!" a man's voice whispered back. Letch's head was turning round and round, but kept mostly on whatever we had disturbed.

"Now run," he rasped as he tossed an object into the air. It contacted the ground and exploded into a big fireball. Right away I could see the creatures features, and was bewildered to say the least. They resembled large bats of some kind, the heads were shaped like a thick cross, a thick vertical line and a horizontal one as well, and their tails had to be three feet long. It was at the cross-head center that their mouths were showing incredibly sharp teeth. And they could not stand fire, because all of them hissed and shrieked in pain, running from it quickly. Whoever was behind me, grabbed me up from behind and carried me towards the door. Letch picked up on this and was biting at his heels just as quickly. Once we were outside, he dumped me on the ground and had his rifle aimed at the cave. Letch looked me over, before staring down the human. The fire inside the cave died down and the screaming aliens silenced again. The man then turned, and I got a full load of his features. First off, he was wearing the same kind of armor that the marines wore on Tarsonis, except his was teal green in color, and he didn't have a helmet. His head was mostly bald, except for the slowly thickening sideburns and scars around it. He carried a similar machine gun that the other soldiers did as well, one that he now pointed at the Zergling.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Good question kid, back away from that Zergling. It'll bring others if it stays alive," he said, motioning for me to do so.

"He's my pet, he's okay," I said, petting Letch on the head slightly.

The man's eyes jumped alive when this happened, "A tame Zerglin? And just who are you kid? Where did ya come from, did you crash with a ship here to?"

"Name's Verto, and no I didn't crash with a ship. I came here with the Zerg, what about you?" The man barely relaxed, like he was going to fire or die trying.

"Hey, he isn't going to hurt you okay, I'd like to know _your_ name, where _you_ come from, and what the hell those things in there are!" I spoke up suddenly. He must not have been used to anyone bossing him around, especially a kid, but he did relax and lower his gun.

"Name's Jim Raynor," he said, looking back around in the rainstorm.

"So what were those things in the cave?" I asked.

"A big nightmare kid, I crashed here with a few members of my crew about two months ago. We were being chased by the Dominion troops and ran out of fuel. We managed to glide slowly down, but my ship is wrecked. So we set out to find a suitable shelter so not to run down the remaining power on the ship, after all we needed it for a transmitter!" Raynor explained. I nodded, glancing at the acid burns and scratches on this guy's armor.

"We went deep into that cave and accidentally found those things one night. It's been hell ever since because we dropped our power cells in there, and we can't get them back with all those things in there!" Raynor finished.

"What are they again?"

"Afraid I don't know what they are, but I can tell you what they can do, rip your head off in about three seconds. Probably give a mad Ultralisk a run for its money, and there's lots of them. A lot more than I can shoot with limited ammo here!" he nodded towards his large machine gun.

"Any weaknesses in them?" I asked. Raynor looked a bit confused that I would ask that.

"Yeah, they don't like light, and if exposed to it long enough it burns them, alive or dead. We found that out with just a flashlight," he said, glancing at Letch, who was sleeping next to my leg. I smirked slightly, _Well those things are going to hate me then._

"What's your story kid, how'd you get with the Zerg?" Raynor asked. So I told him, the heavily edited version. Mostly that I had special powers, and the Zerg had wanted them, not that I was right about that anyway. I also mentioned how the Protoss got involved, that was about it.

"Sounds a bit crazy to believe. The Zerg and I have crossed paths many times, but I don't really mess with them unless I have to, and special powers? What, you a ghost or something?" he asked, chuckling slightly. I held up a ki blast, shooting it into the sky.

"Well that's the very minimum of what I can do," I grinned slightly. Raynor's jaw was on the ground in amazement, no surprise there.

"So you don't like those Terran Dominion guys huh? I ran into them at a place called Tarsonis, gave them a hell of a run to," I said, rubbing the back of my head Goku style.

"Yeah, I joined up with them because me and my crew were screwed on the planet we were stationed at during the Confederate reign. Then their leader, my former boss, rescued us, then employed us to help his plans along, little did I know that we were really just handing this sector to him on a silver platter. Me and my boys were some of the best, teamed up with the Emperor's best men, we were unstoppable. But when he was so desperate to win quickly against the Confederates, he sent his second in command, and my love interest down alone to handle the Protoss, I began to question his motives, a lot actually. She and her team succeeded, but then the Zerg rushed in and killed them all, ever since we have been on the run since we rebelled the day after," Raynor looked pretty down. I listened to his story, and noticed just how similar it was to Kerrigan's story. _Maybe I should hook them up or something. Wait a sec…Jim Raynor was the guy she mentioned in her story as well._

"So anyway, we should go back to my ship. But since the power cells are down there, the replicators won't work. I don't have much food for ya, sorry about that," he said, standing up with rifle slung over his shoulder.

"You said the power cells are down there, how about I help you get them? If those things don't like light like you say, we easily can get them if they aren't too far, or too busted up," I rose and offered. Raynor didn't look so sure about my bold plan, but was quickly running to catch up to me once I started towards the cave. I pointed at the ground and told Letch to stay. He whimpered slightly and sat at the entrance, gazing in as we walked in.

**-**

"Just how do you do that anyway?" Raynor asked as I lit a ki ball in my hand, lighting up the room enough to send the creatures running and screeching.

"Long story short, plenty of training. It gets easy once you learn how to use it though," I explained briefly, walking forward. The creatures were definitely afraid of light; I saw them squabble in the shadows just to get away from it, never mind not coming out to attack the provider. I spotted a red blood trail on the ground, and followed it into the shadows where many of the creatures were hiding. I approached a turn in the cave walls and a large boulder blocked the tunnel partially, right where the blood trail went around.

"See something behind that rock, need me to fire off a spray?" Raynor asked behind me, snapping in a clip of ammo.

"You could, but I got it," I said, moving my left hand to just in front of the turn. I then summoned my Psi into it, creating my Psi sword and extending the bright blue light past my field of view. There were instant pain-filled shrieks, and a flutter of creatures flew further down the cave halls. I extinguished the ki ball and swapped hands with the sword.

"You got some cool tricks kid, any advice?" he asked.

I smirked, "Don't make me mad."

"Right," he said with a hint of sarcasm. I turned the corner to find what used to be a body on the floor, except the head was missing as well as most of the skin and organs, so there was just a bloody skeleton left. The smell of blood stirred something in me, and I fought to keep it down.

"Oh man, that was Frank Osborne, my head science officer," Raynor stopped to remorse over it for a moment.

"Then consider Frank lucky that he was released from this life so quickly," I said, stepping forward to move on.

"They got him a few hours ago, and they were dragging him away. There's no way this was quick!" Raynor said in slight disgust.

"His head was removed, death was instant, let's keep moving if you want to get your power cells!" I replied, noting an unusual harsh tone about my voice. _What's wrong with me? Even Vegeta has more respect for the dead then what I just said, well maybe. Must be the Zerg hormones in my blood, little bastards._ I may have been mentally strong, but one thing I can't stand is the dead, especially the innocent dead. Raynor seemed to ignore that comment though, and moved on with me. We walked un-heeded for a good twenty minutes, rather silent except for the pain filled sounds of the aliens as they fled away from my Psi sword. I noted that there were many more of them the deeper we got, and not just because I was pushing them all into each other. If I had wanted to, I could have blasted all of them right then, and according to Raynor, just the light would affect the ones that didn't die in the blast. But there was a problem with that, all of the mountain rock above coming crashing down on us didn't seem like a good idea.

After what seemed like constant walking and turning, we came across a large green metal object on the ground. "Hey, that's one of the power cells, I wonder how it got so far down here?" Raynor asked.

"The fact that we've probably driven about half a million of these creatures back down here is one way," I said, keeping on eye on them as I did.

"You sure don't act like very many kids I know that are your age," he said as he picked the power cell up.

"Yeah I get that a lot, how many of those do you have anyway?" I asked.

"Three, let's leave this one here. That way we can back track with a less load, they are a little heavy," he said, setting it against a wall.

"Heavy huh, well if you can lift it that easily, no worries!" I said, continuing on the beaten path the aliens had made for us in the darkness. A few more minutes went by before we found the other two, also having being rolled around a bit by the fleeing aliens.

"Well that was easy," I said. If only I hadn't opened my mouth, because just then my Psi energy started dropping, and my sword flickered.

"What the hell," I started, and then noticed my arms were beginning to grow some extra veins under a new yellow and green colored skin. My Psi energy literally disappeared into the depths of my spirit to where it had been during my battle against the Confederate Terrans: nearly nothing to sense. _Great, guess she wasn't lying about Zerg tissue and Psi power not liking each other, or maybe it's just a bad reaction. That is of course if big ugly isn't screwing with me again._

"What's going on kid?" Raynor asked.

"Grab your power cells and run, get back to the cave entrance. Some of my powers aren't working right at the moment, I'll hold them off!" I said, stepping forward to meet the aliens.

"But," he started.

"I said go, these things are nothing to me!" I said in total confidence. Raynor obviously did not want to get me going at him, so he packed up and ran for the hills.

"Okay you little, whatever you are, come and get it!" I challenged, powering up my ki and dropping my sword at the same time. My aura provided a little light, but not much more than to at least see the monsters coming closer. I got into a stance and waved the lead alien on. It came in much quicker than I expected, but I got away from it before my arm was a chew toy. I punched it in the side of its skinny body. It took the blow better than any Zerg I had ever seen, and clawed at me in response, cutting across my arms. Blood drew and splattered on the ground. I kicked much harder and the alien flew away just in time to see the next one come in. This one was even faster, like it was angry. It's rage got the better of it and I knocked it into a wall. The following three met similar fates, leaving trails of blue blood all over the place. Then a stampede came at me, easily a few hundred of the beasts in one twisted looking swirl.

_Damn, can't blast the cave, guess I'll just have to take this fight to the outside._ I turned and powered up slightly, flying back towards the entrance quickly. I kept my aura lit just in case they were faster than me. They weren't, but they were flying pretty close. I ran across Raynor about a third of the way back, and grabbed him by his armor as well as the power cells.

"What's up kid? Damn you can fly too?" he asked in astonishment.

"We're getting the hell outta here. Then I'm gonna blow this mountain up and kill all of them!" I said.

"Sounds good, watch out!" Raynor said as a low ceiling came up. I ducked down just in time and kept my speed up. I heard the aliens colliding with each other once I was through. I grinned at the fact that they weren't all that smart.

"Hey look, there's the exit!" Raynor pointed out though I had already seen it. We flew out quickly and landed to see the creatures hit the exit and come to a screeching halt, flying back inside just as fast.

"Humph, what a weakness to have," I said, disappointed, but drawing back my arms to fire a big ki attack.

"You might want to take cover Raynor, KamehameHAAA!" The blue beam slammed into the cave and drilled through part of it, before the mountain then imploded slightly, causing a rockslide where the cave entrance had been. I purposefully held back though when I sensed that Raynor did not take my advice.

"I thought you were going to blow it all up?" Raynor noted.

"Didn't have to, most of them are gone with that blast. The rock slide will either seal them in, or force them out. And with nothing but light out here, they're done! Plus you didn't exactly take cover," I said. I noticed Letch was gone, and since he was Zerg I was not going to pick him up very easily. I stopped myself once I started to scan around for him, almost calling myself an idiot out loud. _Oh geez, showing concern for that Zergling. What would Vegeta think if he saw this? Oh time out, I must remember it's the Zerg masters I have to defeat, the Zerg species themselves are not truly the enemy. This whole infestation thing is screwing with my head just a little too much for my taste. I swear I'm going to go insane before this is over. Can't wait to get back to normal._ Raynor broke my disputed thoughts thankfully.

"Thanks for holding back then. Come on kid, let's get these power cells hooked up so we can send out a distress beacon, besides I'm sure your hungry by now right?" Raynor asked with a slight smile. The smirk I gave him when he referred to food made him gasp in surprise.

**A/N: If you haven't figure out what kind of aliens yet, then you obviously have not seen the movie Pitch Black, which I don't own any rights to, just a DVD. Raynor sort of resembles Vin Diesel, but mostly with the baldhead and battle scars. He even has the fugitive background if you want to call it that. Next chapter's general events will be obvious with the chapter title.**

**Next time on DBV: A solar eclipse blankets Char in darkness and sparks a war between the light-fearing aliens and the Zerg. The Zerg struggle against the overwhelming strength of the aliens and need Verto's help. Does Verto have the power to destroy all of these aliens around the planet, or will he have to work together with the Zerg to win.**


	13. Eclipse

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 12: Eclipse**

The hike back to Raynor's ship was rather short. I noticed that not only that his ship was a battleship like the ones I had destroyed before, but also that they had crashed next to what looked to be a small village. Needless to say, I wanted food first before asking about the village.

"Good lord, I don't think the entire Terran Dominion could eat as much as you in one day!" Raynor exclaimed as I polished off what his replicators had spewed out. He had trouble getting them online and claimed that his ship was too broken down to function correctly. Supposedly he had a huge problem with fused circuits and because of that, not even the main computer would operate.

I grinned slightly and rubbed the back of my head, "Yeah, I haven't eaten very well for a while. So what's with the village? Is it abandoned like it seems?" I asked.

"Pretty much. Other than an un-powered ship, they only had a few little trinkets here in there. Nothing much to write home about on this planet…they must have been here long enough though because they even had a model of this solar system. I've been wondering myself about that spacecraft," Raynor replied as he put his fingers to his chin in a thinking posture.

"Well, can't you use your power cells on that ship and get outta here on that one?" I asked.

Raynor shook his head, "No, the designs are different, and I don't think I have a way of adaptation either. Believe me, I already thought of that one."

"We'll maybe we could take a look around and see what we can find," I suggested.

"Good idea kid," Raynor said, picking up his gun.

We exited his ship and headed for the village. While I insisted that I would be fine on my own, Raynor didn't want to split up. _Humph, maybe for his own safety with the Zerg here and all._ We came to some sort of small tower that had been built much like a grain silo, perhaps for storage. It was dark and dank inside, and in the middle there was some kind of water well. I dropped a small and weak ki blast down into the hole to check it out. I observed two things when I did. First, I made out the visual of several hundred skeletons at the bottom, human looking. The other thing was a shriek of pain that sounded just like the aliens I just fought.

"Those things must be all over the place underground," I noted.

"I think they are, we only noticed them in that cave. But that place was huge, so I'm sure they could easily spread out after dark. If there was a night on this planet..." Raynor grunted.

"There isn't a night?" I asked.

"As hard to tell as it is, this is a binary star system, and no doubt you've noticed a bit of heat here as well. There is always a sun up above the ash clouds, and you've seen how sensitive they are to light. They probably couldn't even move around the shadows very well," Raynor explained.

"I wonder what happened here then. It looks like whoever had been here ran in there to hide from them, except they ran right into a trap. But why would they need to, even with the ash clouds covering the planet, light would still be abundant," I said, glancing around the dungeon like room. I spotted a small model over on a desk and walked over to it.

"That's the model I told you about. It even has a date on it, about twenty-seven years ago according to this." Raynor scrutinized it, glancing at a plaque inscribed on its surface. I turned the windup on the side and watched as it rotated around as the planets did so. I noticed a counter on the side that had read zero, but then it started counting years as the planets slowly revolved. There was a small blue flag on the gray ball of the model, signifying Char itself. There were two planets closer to the suns, and three farther, making six total in the system. I watched the model twirl around as the counter slowly counted. Raynor was busying himself by perusing the surroundings, some dents and such on the tower's wall.

"Well there was definitely a fight here. It's academic to know who won," he noted.

"Hmmm...yes. That's pretty obvious," I answered. I turned back to the model, and saw that a large planet closer to the larger star was now in front of Char, between it and one of the suns. It was big enough to perhaps block out both suns completely for a noticeable amount of time before moving past enough for the sunlight to reach Char again. The larger planet was much bigger than Char by several scales, kind of like Earth compared to Jupiter. On the other side, another bigger planet was moving into place with Char at the same time. I read the counter, it read twenty-seven years. _Aw...crap._ I saw that Char lined up with the planets momentarily before moving past again. _So that's how they were killed, an eclipse of both of the suns!_ Raynor seemed to notice my distress but didn't say anything.

"How long ago did you say this was dated?" I asked to double check.

"About twenty-seven years. It's about a week or two shy, I think. Why?"

"I believe I know what happened to those people," I said as I glanced at Raynor, "Are there running lights on that thing?" I asked while pointing at his ship.

**Interlude 12.1 –Deception-**

"Argh, where is that boy now?" Kerrigan griped as she oversaw the finishing touches on the Cerebrate's base. Overhead, the clouds had turned slightly darker, but she paid it no mind, this place was always covered with clouds. As a few drones carried the Cerebrate's living form in and put it into place at the bottom of the primary Hive cluster, Kerrigan began to receive a telepathic call. It wasn't aimed for her, but anything the Cerebrate was involved in, she could pick up as well.

"_Cerebrate, I trust your settlement is complete by now. I certainly hope so, for battle awaits us soon!"_

Kerrigan scowled at the voice of Zasz, "_Yes it is complete, now bug off Zasz! Worry about your own lands!"_

"_Why Kerrigan, I didn't realize our conversation was being disgraced already. I expected another minute before you pushed in. Quite edgy today, aren't we?"_ Zasz coolly asked.

"_Like you would know,"_ Kerrigan thought quietly.

"_You are giving the boy too much cushion, too much freedom. He will break away eventually and we will be forced to kill him! It will be such a waste."_

"_That is none of your business Zasz, so I suggest you stay out of it before I decide to send him after you!"_

"_You know, the Overmind wouldn't like such insubordination from his top agents,"_ Zasz added, catching Kerrigan a bit off guard.

"_What are you talking about now Zasz?"_ Kerrigan fired back, quickly recovering from the veiled suggestion.

"_I know of your plans to overthrow him! Don't deny it, you plan to use the boy to do so. Fat chance he'd be able to pull it off anyway, you might go far...but not far enough!"_

"_I don't know what you are suggesting Zasz, but I am not trying to overthrow anybody. The Overmind is my father now, and I am completely loyal! Get off my back!"_

"_I'll be watching you carefully, my dear."_ With that said Zasz's voice vanished, and Kerrigan's mind cleared, only to be filled with questions from a different source.

"_How is it he came to know all of this?"_ the Cerebrate asked.

"_I do not know, I'm not completely sure that he knows all of that or if he's just guessing at it. I propose caution nonetheless. Be wary of any transmissions or orders that come through or from you!"_ Kerrigan glanced at the sky and saw it was getting dark enough to be considered twilight. She heard a shriek of some kind in the distance, and it chilled her to the bone.

"Prepare our forces Cerebrate, we need to find Verto!"

-

Raynor kicked the side of the computer panel in frustration. We had hooked all of the power cells up, but it was for nothing when the computers didn't come on. He tinkered with it for about an hour, but the only thing we got was the replicator for our meal, and a few lights.

"Blasted thing is too damaged from the crash, damn this piece of shit!" he cursed as he relentlessly beat it with a steel pipe lying nearby.

"Take it out on something else," I suggested, chuckling slightly.

"Well, you got a good idea? That eclipse is gonna happen any time now!" Raynor said in annoyance.

"According to the model, I'd guess it's only going to last at least a day, give or take a few hours. But still, it's gonna get a little hairy if many of those things come out for a chat. I hope you got plenty of ammo for that gun!" I said.

"Not as much as I'd like, nor as much firepower as I would have if I could get this ship up and running. But I think I could get my bike going. Only problem is that it will drain the power cells a bit, and the concussion grenades are too powerful. The ion engines take a lot of energy to run at top speed. What I get for getting the most advanced vulture bike that there is. I mean some of the things I've had to deal with..." Raynor dragged on about his top of the model bike, I tuned out, seeing that it was already growing dark outside. Then I heard a loud shriek from outside.

"What the hell was that?" Raynor asked.

"You're asking the wrong person, but I'm going find out," I said as I headed straight for the exit to the ship. Raynor was hot on my tail, but I noticed he quit bothering to warn me about being careful.

Outside, it was very dark compared to before, much like early morning or late evening. I looked over to the nearby hills and mountains to see a dark and black cloud growing there. Only it wasn't a cloud because it had tiny gaps between tiny shapes and was funneling out of the mountains like smoke, a lot of smoke. _Oh boy._

"Holy shit, how many are there?" Raynor asked. I didn't answer, but I did turn my head enough to see that they were coming out of hills behind where the ship crashed as well. I did a complete circle of the scene and saw what I feared would happen. They were everywhere in the air around us, and were quickly coming in.

"Aw crap, we're surrounded!" Raynor pointed out.

"Get inside the ship!" I ordered.

"What?! Hell no, kid! You're coming with me too!"

"I'll do much better out here without your help, now get in!" I roared back, catching his attention before he got inside and shut the huge steel door.

"Here we go," I whispered, powering up. The light my aura emitted wasn't enough to scare these things apparently, because they were still coming in fast. That and I wasn't at Super Mystic, a transformation that I still needed to work on. Without much practice with Psi and with the current limitation, I wasn't going to be able to jump right to it anyway. They were so thick that soon I couldn't see the sky. That didn't matter at this point, it was nearly pitch black out there. Ahead of me, the creatures landed on the ground, hissing as they stalked forward. One then rushed in from the air, about taking my head with it had I not ducked. The ground in front of me then exploded, and I saw a Zergling sitting there from a freshly dug hole. It was Letch, and I had been wondering where he had been. He growled at the oncoming aliens, and readied himself to attack them, or defend me. I looked back up to see that the aliens were scattering around more, and only a few thousand were sticking around. Letch then leaped at the lead alien; it stepped back and slashed with its tail. Letch took the blow as he pounced and landed on its back and chewed on its neck. It dropped instantly and Letch leaped at the next one. _Guess I don't want to be a party pooper._ I fired a ki beam into the air and witnessed its effect. Right away there was massive amounts of screeching going on, before several aliens fell from the sky in random places. I grinned, this was going to be very easy. Then I launched a storm of ki blasts into the sky and all around. The effect was so very satisfying.

-

"You can come out now," I shouted in the dark halls of the ship. Raynor's small ki was just inside a bunk room of some kind, but by the time Letch and I got in there, I couldn't tell if he'd been hiding under a bed or not.

"You toasted them all already?" he asked in surprise.

"No, a lot of them left. I think they decided not to mess with me too much after the first few thousand were wiped out easily," I grinned slightly.

"Damn I wasn't sure cause I heard em pounding on the outer hull," he said in wonder.

"No, that was the bodies that dropped on it. We are clear for the moment," I informed him, giving Letch a pat on the head. Raynor followed me back outside as I observed another cluster of aliens moving about above us. They flew down and landed about twenty feet away. Raynor cocked his machine gun and unloaded on them. I could see the bullets impact the aliens, or in this case bounce clean off.

"Damn...did I get any?" he asked.

"No, I don't think it even bruised them. Their skin is way tougher than any Zerg's, or your bullets aren't worth a shit, take your pick," I grunted.

"This baby has taken down tons of Zerg, so it ain't that. But could you do something about these damn things?!" Raynor panicked slightly as the aliens dived forward.

"No problem," I said, drawing back to fire a beam. I was hit suddenly by a wave of pain in my subconscious. I knew it was there because it didn't affect me physically. I could feel the Zerg fighting these creatures all over the planet, and losing. My momentary lapse continued until one of the aliens slashed across my left shoulder just shy of my neck. I didn't even realize it until I was on the ground and bleeding badly while Raynor was beating the thing over its head with the butt of his gun. It knocked him aside, but then got its head chewed in half by Letch.

"OWWW, you little bastards!!!" I screamed. I saw more aliens coming straight at us, as if my blood had got their attention. I fired off a big ki ball into the air, either killing them on the spot, or incapacitating them. I moaned in pain for a few minutes while Letch patrolled around me.

"You ok, kid?" Raynor asked, helping me sit up.

"Does it look like it? The damn thing about cut my shoulder off, and...what the hell?" I suddenly asked in the middle of my tirade. My shoulder hardly hurt at all now, and it being mostly dark I couldn't see it very well.

"What?" Raynor asked. I lit another ki ball and held the light to my shoulder. The wound was still very much there, but the deepest part of it was already healed, and it was slowly filling in with tissue again. It was primarily normal tissue-normal for a Saiyan anyway- and it was filling back in. Only on top did I see Zerg skin and bone coming back in. Which reminded me, my arms were almost totally green now with all kinds of new blood veins.

"I think your infection is getting worse," Raynor noted.

"Is it Captain Raynor or Captain Obvious?"

"Well what are you going to do about it?"

I thought it over, "Something crazy, but it might work."

I sat down cross-legged and concentrated on my energy. I could barely feel my Psi at all, and it felt as if it was being pushed into the depths again. I remembered how much of a pain it got to be trying to find it before, and I didn't want to revert to that. I opened my eyes again and put opposite hands to my arms and shoulders.

"Whatcha doing kid?" he asked.

"Shhh, be quiet for a few minutes. I'm gonna try and isolate the infection with my energy," I said. I pushed with my ki to get a hold of my Psi again, as it was getting very difficult. Since Zerg blood and my ki seem to strengthen each other as they did with Borgos, I figured Psi was the only answer. Then I pulled hard on the Zerg skins covering my arms and shoulders. It hurt like hell, but they ripped off and I discarded them aside with a few loud groans. Letch came up with a distressed look in his eyes. After I pushed down the urge to scream, I noticed my Psi was much more open to me. I turned on my sword, so to speak, and used it to burn off the Zerg tissues that I could see on my limbs. Pain increased everywhere, but so did my Psi energy.

"Wow, that's one way to do it," Raynor said as I powered back down.

"Yeah but it won't last, and holding onto my Psi energy exhausted some of my power in the process. I'll try to subdue it a bit more later, wish I had thought of that sooner," I said, shrugging slightly.

"Psi energy, like the Protoss?" he asked.

_Doh, I guess I didn't explain that well enough._ I ignored Raynor as my senses then perked up to sense a large pack of something coming our way. But judging by the way Letch didn't react, it wasn't the aliens. I lit another ki ball and kept it lit, seeing instead a bunch of Zerg coming in by air and ground. They surrounded the area, but did not get very close, more like they were securing the area. An Overlord dropped out of the sky and Kerrigan hopped out of it, giving me a stern look.

"And just where have you been Verto? With all of these blasted aliens running about we could easily lose you somewhere!" she claimed.

I cocked an eyebrow, "And the downside of this is?"

Kerrigan gave a small smile before putting Zerg queen bitch mode back on display, "And why is it you've shredded your skins and coverings. They will heal you quickly!"

"Because I don't need them or want them. Tell your master just that!" I shouted back. While Kerrigan and I were having the fake argument, Raynor was reloading his machine gun, but then did a double take as he walked up and saw me talking to Kerrigan.

"I suppose you want to go home in a coffin, well that's just fine with…Jim?" Kerrigan said when she saw him. Her eyes were wider then dinner plates, and Raynor's reaction wasn't much different.

"Goddamn...Sarah? What did the bastards do to you Sarah?"

-

I sat off to the side as Raynor and Kerrigan chatted for an awfully long time. I personally didn't think they would speak a word to each other without the gun at least going off, but nothing happened at all. As this was happening, I took note that many of the aliens were beginning the come back our way, no doubt the Zerg noticed this as well, because they were moving around in a semi circle in preparation.

"Hey guys, could we save the reunion for later?" I asked over my bloodied shoulder. Raynor and Kerrigan glanced up just as I fired a ki beam into the sky above, revealing a lot of the aliens. The Zerg then attacked in the skies above as well as on the ground around us. I couldn't see hardly any of the battle, just the sounds of shrieks and hisses from either species. Then mental anguish and pain as Zerg fell.

Kerrigan glanced over, "They need your guidance!"

I stared at her hard, "Guidance? What they need is to stop dying and driving me insane!"

"Didn't you realize by now that you can control them, or at least command them?" _Now that sounds all too familiar._

"And how am I to do that when I can't see that much of the battle?"

"You must see the battle without using your eyes!" she said. I stared at her like she was crazy, _Okay, that made sense._

"Argh, I'll help you! Sit down and close your eyes! I want you to concentrate on your surroundings with your Psi. You'll know it when you see it in your thoughts." she said. I did as she ordered, opening my comforting Psi fully to me. This gave off an illuminating effect, which caused Raynor to ask why there was suddenly a blue sparkly light coming off my skin. To focus, I used a similar method of meditation that Piccolo taught me to use that focused my energy so that I could sense everything around me in perfect detail. It sounded so close to what Kerrigan was talking about that I should give it a shot. At first I saw mostly blackness and heard everything else, as one would with their eyes shut in the dark. Then I sensed alien clashing with Zerg, momentary flashes of light blue and purple entered my mind.

"You're almost there, just a little more," she said, though I barely heard her now. I opened my eyes again, or so I thought. This time I saw a lighter blue in the air, and Kerrigan and Raynor were no longer there. In the distance I saw black splotches of something fighting purple splotches. I tried to get up to move over there, only to discover that I was already there as soon I willed myself to move. The splotches refocused into the aliens, and now I could see their full shape without light. They were just as hideous as before, even now as I could see their true shape. The purple ones became Zerg, mostly Zerglings on the ground, and a few flyers in the air. There were more Zerglings than aliens, but the aliens were by far superior in speed and strength. One of them was holding off ten Zerglings on the ground by itself. I saw that whenever an alien or Zergling took a nasty hit, it flashed bloody red for an instant. Some Zerglings turned a deeper shade of purple when it took damage, and if it died it simply vanished from my view. The same for the aliens only it was a deep shade of blue.

"I see them. How do I control them again?" I asked aloud.

"Just give em sort of a mental shove for what you want them to do, they'll do it," Kerrigan suggested. I snorted at her vagueness, but tried it anyway. I noticed that only two Zerglings from the pack were attacking the alien on the end of the ground line, but it was pretty close to dead. Another next to it was fighting with six Zerglings. With my thoughts, I told two of the six Zerglings to help with the alien on the end. To my surprise they listened and moved down to attack.

"There, you got it!" Kerrigan sounded pleased. _Come to think of it, that was pretty easy._ I turned in my mental state and saw everything in the battle around me, even myself. It showed Kerrigan knelt down next to me, Raynor observing along with Letch. It was odd to see myself from a third person point of view. I was sitting Indian-style in meditation, and a navy bluish flame was coming off of me like I was powering up, only I knew I wasn't really. Then I glanced up and saw a few aliens coming down on me from above. I jerked my arm straight up and ki blasted them, watching myself do it as well. The aliens fried on impact or by the passing of the beam, whichever. I waved my hand slightly in front of my face, getting an odd chuckle from Kerrigan.

"Kind of different to see yourself this way isn't it?" she said.

"You could say that," I said as I watched my own lips move from several feet away. _This would be handy on the twin terrors when they're getting prank happy._

"This is similar to how a Cerebrate controls the battle...strategically anyway. Not everything can be predicted, just acted upon," she said. As she said that, I motioned the Zerg guardians in the air to lend air support to the Zerglings and large Hydralisks on the ground. The Guardians started getting attacked, so I mentally signaled the Mutalisks and kamikaze scrounges to help out, as well as the hydras to spit their needles at the attackers.

"Wow, you're a quick learner," Kerrigan said, sounding slightly amazed. _Yeah, came with the practice._ In no time flat the Zerg forces were starting to pound out the aliens due to my influence with their tactics. Knowing Zerg offences and weaknesses were a plus at that point. Soon the aliens were for the most part, dead, and it had saved me a great deal of ki power. I thought up an idea and thought it a few times so Kerrigan got the drift. _I suspect that big ugly is responsible for my power suddenly vanishing along with the sudden Zerg tissue growth. Well, I think I now know a way to keep my Psi power higher than big ugly will allow, and keep myself from being you know what._ Kerrigan nodded ever so slightly.

**A/N: Another new ability which I will call Spiritual Vision. Sort of like a sixth sense, but I'd say Verto is up to like eight or nine senses now, consider this another one when he gets in a bind.**

**Next time on DBV: The war for Char continues as Verto easily shreds the legions of aliens with his energy attacks. As the eclipse comes to an end, a larger alien emerges from the mountains and is completely immune to light. Verto fights against this beast and is beaten around badly. The Zerg nearby are also ineffective against this monster. Injured and exhausted, can Verto summon the power needed to slay this monster? Tune in next time!**


	14. The Queen

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 13: The Queen**

All around the planet the same thing was going on. Zerg and alien forces were fighting on the darkened planet as I learned that both suns were indeed eclipsed. Kerrigan sent our brood's forces off to help fight the creatures nearby, and according to her the Cerebrate would control them from there, giving me a break on my Psi use. I liked to use Psi, but it was a bitch afterward with the lasting exhaustion. Kerrigan said that it was because I still wasn't used to it, and I couldn't argue with that. I noted once we were inside Raynor's ship that my Zerg tissues had receded tremendously while controlling the Zerg in battle. I hadn't seen how this had happened, but it had to have been the Psi usage. If anything only my tail had any infection left, and that didn't affect me as much as it did with the rest of my body. Kerrigan managed to rig up Raynor's onboard computer to work again with his power cells, and then got the engines to fire a bit as well. She didn't deem the ship to be space worthy by any means, but it would be able to recharge itself so it didn't drain the power cells.

Raynor pulled up an infrared view of the battles going on around the planet. Blue and orange broods of Zerg were clashing with the aliens just as much as the purple brood was. Kerrigan pointed out that the blue one belonged to Daggoth, and the orange one Zasz. I had already grown a vile distaste for Zasz, I remembered him to be the one with the orange colored eye on the day I met them all in the Overmind's chamber. I didn't like him from the start, but perhaps being around Kerrigan and the Cerebrate was influencing me just a bit more in that regard. According to her, they weren't exactly fond of him either, though it was obvious. Back to the point, the map flashed a brighter green where there were battles going on with the aliens. Some were being won by the Zerg, but mostly by the aliens since they had slightly higher numbers.

"Guess you guys were busy while I was out here?" I noted.

"Common practice when we fortify our lands," Kerrigan said, generally ignoring me and paying more attention to the battles. I glanced at the large map and noticed something strange. Not to far from Raynor's ship, there was a massive build up of the aliens, much like when they had first appeared from the mountains and hills. Only these aliens appeared to be just sitting there, maybe flying around but staying in the same general area. Even though some of their comrades were fighting some Zerg a few miles away, this large force stayed put.

"What gives over there?" I asked.

"Good question, maybe they want to nest there or something," Raynor said, getting a slight elbow nudge from Kerrigan. _Yep they even act like old friends._

"Jim, look before your thoughts become glue again. Obviously there is something there that they are interested in, or it gives them some sort of tactical advantage. The question is, what is it?" she asked as she glanced at me for input.

"Well it doesn't make much sense for them to all hang around there when they have a few losing battles nearby. These things aren't exactly dumb from what I've seen, except when it comes to underestimating their enemies of course. I say we go out there and attack while they're just sitting there like sitting ducks. Light tears these things up, remember? A few big ki beams ought to do it!" I suggested. Kerrigan looked mildly amused at my excited mood when it came to battle.

She agreed, "Not a bad plan, but we had best do this before they decide to spread around more. I'll call some forces from our brood to meet us there."

**-**

We set out on foot since the location of these aliens was only a few miles to the north of Raynor's ship. While on foot, Raynor and Kerrigan looked like they both wanted to say something to the other, but both hesitated and kept quiet. It was my turn for the eye rolling, and I decided instead to change the subject, not that it had started anyway.

"Question, won't the Overmind notice this type of stuff going on? You know, us three?" I asked.

"Not to worry, more than likely from what we've seen, all forces are engaged in battle. That tends to distract him quite a bit. Worry more after the war for this planet is over. As for your degenerative status just now, he won't like it. But for the time being, I predict he will allow it," she smiled at first, but towards the end of her statement she looked a bit distressed.

"What is it Sarah?" Raynor asked.

"Nothing Jim, nothing at all," she said quickly.

"Now Sarah, I know that you're a telepath and all, but is it true that you can see into the future? I heard that from Mengsk one day, is it true?" Raynor asked in reply. Kerrigan looked shocked at this fact, more than I was at this point, but she tilted her head slightly down before explaining.

"That is true, I can see into the future. How far depends on the current environment and the people involved," she said.

"What do you see with me?" I asked.

Kerrigan hesitated before she answered, "I'm not sure myself. I've seen several possibilities with you, but I have no idea which one is most accurate. Sorry."

"Sorry? Were you using that foresight when you broke me out of the stasis chamber? Not that I want to be back there, but I prefer to know what's coming my way if I can!" I replied angrily.

"Trust me, the future I saw with that wouldn't have been pleasant, and you shouldn't go asking me what your destiny is. It isn't right for one to gain an advantage like that, and it could mess up the balance of things!" she said a little harsher now, prompting my more aggressive side.

"Balance of things? Tell your beloved Overmind about that next time he comes after Saiyans. Better yet, when I break this pitiful control, I'll show him personally!" I said, my voice was dripping with malice. Raynor looked a bit alarmed at my demeanor, but didn't say much to it. Luckily a few of the aliens dropped out of the sky to say hello, and I shot a ki beam at them to say goodbye.

"Well, if his words don't speak it, his actions do, eh Jim?" Kerrigan asked with an amused look, I however was not amused one bit. I glanced up and to the right to see the mountains we were heading for. I had to squint a little to make out the moving objects in the air, all of the flapping and shrieking sounds were enough to know they were there.

"Sounds like Death Row ahead," Raynor said, cocking his machine gun. I could see a bit of light on the horizon, but very little, much like an hour before sunrise usually hits. I searched with my extended senses and found that the aliens were rather congested, so a concentrated ki beam would take a lot of them out.

"You two might want to back up," I said as I started to power up a bit. Once they saw my aura, back they went, quickly.

"Galic Gun!"

My red beam ripped through the aliens like a blowtorch through paper. I had fired a bigger beam then I usually did just to make sure that I hit most of them. The light it gave off crippled the ones I didn't hit. When the beam passed into space and vanished, I sensed that there were very few left compared to the whole. Those remaining came my way as if asking for death, I didn't dare deny them either. I waited for them patiently while they buzzed around in the air shrieking and hissing, some minor form of communication. There must have been about fifty of them left, because the hostile feeling the things gave off had all but vanished. They swooped around in the air some, as if waiting for me to make the move.

"Don't move, I'll take the fight to them," I said though no one on the ground was protesting, Letch included. I pulled up my Psi again, turning on my sword and feeling the comfort in the bright light that came from it. Then I flew upward quickly, passing a few of the aliens in ascent. They followed me up like rabid wolves, which made me conclude that maybe these things ran on blood, my upper body had been bleeding pretty badly not long ago. But like rabid wolves, they lost their tactical advantage to bloodlust. I swung around and swooped down on top of the line of them, sword first. Swinging left and right quickly, I managed to swipe all of them at least once before getting past them all and turning about. Some had dropped to the ground with any lethal blows I had scored, the rest were crying loudly in pain, but no blood came. My sword likely cauterized all wounds it inflicted, though it never felt hot. Since I still had only slight light enough to see them from a distance, I still had to rely on the air vibrations and my ki senses, hearing them hadn't proven that effective up close.

"Next," I taunted slightly, getting a decent reaction. They all came flying in at a quickened pace despite that I held instant death in my hands. I waited patiently for them and started swinging as they came in, getting a few of them cut in half. One managed to rake at my sword arm as it died, causing me to lose concentration for a split second; long enough for the sword to vanish. I growled slightly as another plowed into my upper body. I punched it away harshly and knocked another out of the sky that way, Letch chased after it. The rest were forming up behind me again for another pass. I grinned slightly and waited for them to get within about ten feet, so they couldn't react if I moved quickly. Just as planned, I phased out right when they got there; causing the small stampede to come to a screeching halt once I was gone. This was their final mistake as my ki bolt storm had already hit them from below.

-

"Man, remind me to never piss him off," Raynor said as I landed.

Kerrigan grunted slightly, "That was a bare minimum, he can do ten times better than that given a real opponent at his level. He can probably take out more Zerg in one blast then that machine gun of yours ever has." _Was that a compliment?_

"Well, that just about wraps things up here," Kerrigan said, glancing about.

"Maybe, I'm wondering why they were packed up here. It doesn't make much sense to bunch up like that when it doesn't work to your advantage," I noted, giving a hard stare at the mountain. I began to sense something stirring there; it felt hostile like the aliens, but slightly different. The twilight was starting to lighten a bit, and the lighter gray skies started to return.

"Well that's a good sign, at least the eclipse is almost over," Raynor noted. I began to feel a rumbling in the ground, much like an earthquake. It was faint at first, but got strong enough that Raynor and Kerrigan were knocked off their feet by surprise. Fighting powerful villains gave me the advantage of not being overwhelmed very often, that being the case I still didn't sense anything significant in the mountain, just a constant shaking. That didn't lower my caution though, something was about to emerge. I didn't have to wait long, the mountain suddenly started to collapse, then it exploded outward, spraying boulders every which way.

"What's going on?" Raynor and Kerrigan both asked. I didn't answer as I saw the rubble shifting a lot until what I had been sensing emerged. It was just like the aliens we had been fighting, only much bigger. If I had to guess, it was probably twenty times the size of them; I didn't want to think about the weight. And it looked a lot stronger, not just by being bigger.

"Whoa, that's a whopper of a beast! You can take it no problem right kid?" Raynor asked.

I grinned slightly, "Well, were going to find out right now." I blasted off towards the beast; firing ki bolts along the way, scoring hits with each one. I heard it shriek slightly, but the smoke cleared and I could only see a few burn marks on it, nothing else.

"Okay, maybe they don't all share that weakness," I said aloud, charging up a Masenko blast. I would have fired a Kamehameha or a Galic Gun for the power, but the beast was starting to move right towards me quickly and I needed to save time. I fired and flew above the huge creature to see the results. A huge whipping talon came from the smoke and nearly cut me in half had I not dodged at the very last moment. _Okay, looks like this is going to take a little bit more._

I powered up quickly while flying a little higher, unlocking all of my Psi as well. The huge alien was in the air a moment later; it felt like a hurricane force wind blew by me when those huge wings flapped once. I got away quickly though. It might have been able to fly and move more quickly compared to the others, but it wasn't going to catch me easily. I landed near Kerrigan, seeing if she had any insight on this creature.

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say it's the mother creature, or queen. Take a look at that appendage on the back. Looks like an egg sack of some sort," she said as the queen was shifting around looking for me.

"Well I'm pretty sure I can beat it, but it may take awhile...so I may not be able to help you with them. Wish me luck!" I said as I blasted off again. Raynor was right away wondering what I meant before I heard his machine gun start firing and I sensed Psi emitions from Kerrigan.

I rushed up to the queen, "Okay you big bitch, let's see what you're made of!" I dashed in and punched her on the side of what I believed to be the stomach. Whatever it was I didn't stay to find out, because the blow barely affected it, if at all. Its huge mouth and teeth the size of cars came biting at me, so I phased away and kicked the side of her head. The beast sidestepped a little, but that was all. _Okay, physicality has been ruled out now._

I saw the monster's head reel back towards me, so I phased out and reappeared above the topside. There was a large tail waiting to hit me there. I hit the hard dirt a second later. _Okay, pretty good instincts too._

I didn't wait for the elephant legs to come crashing down, and phased out the instant they came close. I reappeared above her, and began preparing a Kamehameha. I don't know if she sensed the blast, or me, but she was coming up fast, headfirst. I barely had time to register that she was coming so fast, and dodged away accordingly since I had an instant worth of time. I saw the queen batter my after-image until it vanished, a semi-clueless look on its face.

"HA!!!!" The big blue turtle beam of death stormed up and hit dead on. Some of the hills and mountains behind me collapsed from the wind gust I had produced with it, but that didn't matter to me. I glanced over at Kerrigan and Raynor, who were now sitting quietly behind some rubble watching me. I saw why it was quiet there, several dozen Zerg flyers were hovering there, and the ground was once again riddled in the other aliens bodies. I gave slight thumbs up, as I didn't see any sign of the queen, before I saw a slightly horrified look on Kerrigan and Raynor's faces. I looked back at the smoke, seeing the creature emerge. It looked highly burned and scraped, but if anything it looked pissed off more than anything.

"Oh, great," I noted as I watched the queen rise up before me again. _Looks like I'm gonna have to cut this bitch down to size slowly._ I summoned my Psi sword and held steady, waiting for the queen to do something stupid. She charged forward on the ground and I gave her another after-image to swing at as I phased up behind her huge head. I noted that that back of her head was like a huge iron plate of skin that jetted backwards. Not wanting to get caught in an unavoidable situation, I dashed back a little and drove my sword tip down into her back. She whipped around right away but I stayed on top of her by holding onto my sword tightly. I drove it deeper and got a loud cry out of her. As I pulled out and started to drive down again, the tail got me from behind. I flew off from the blow and plowed into some rubble, hurting my head in the process. The queen appeared to be shaking off the fresh wound in her back, probably because it wasn't big enough to do much, but now I had a weak point to aim for. She came stomping my way again, swinging just as I phased out again. I got plowed down right away by her other hand, or talon. Whatever it was it hurt. When I hit the ground I thought I heard some ribs crack under the pressure. _Damn she learns quick, nothing is working. Guess its time for the trump card._

I powered up more and blasted off into the air, far enough for her not to get me on the way up. I got some distance on her before I started charging my attack. I felt sure I had enough strength in me to pull off what I had in mind and still be fine afterwards, I hadn't been hit that much. I gathered a lot of Psi in one hand and ki in the other, spreading them out at arms length. Then I brought them together and mixed the energy in my connected palms. The attack didn't want to get going right away until I noticed I had put forth too much Psi. I growled a bit and pulled it back in through my hands. The blast came together once I did this, shimmering green in color. _Now its time for this bitch to go down!_

Then something plowed me from behind, causing me to lose a lot of the power I had charged. I snarled and glanced up and behind, seeing a lot of the smaller aliens. Obviously they didn't take too kindly to me fighting their queen. I didn't care what they thought at this point though. Their actions reawakened that bloodlust I had been trying to keep down and I used whatever was left in my left hand to fire at them. They were vaporized instantly from the big green light. When the area darkened back up, I realized that it had been a good thing I had dropped so much mixed power. When I expelled the energy it drained me a lot. Before I thought it was just because I had used too much on Borgos, but now it had been made a little clearer to me. I was still an incredibly new amateur at the art of using both Psi and the mixed energy.

I didn't have time to elaborate on it any further though; the queen came up from behind with stealth and smacked me in the side with her huge talon. I managed to turn in the air and slow myself down before I hit the ground, but the queen was now on me viciously, it was all I could do to dodge her huge blows. I was getting low on power, and soon it felt like an elephant was stomping on my back as her huge legs trampled me. I spat out blood, and coughed a bit as I hurt everywhere. I saw that huge mouth open and the teeth come towards me like she was ready to feed. I gathered whatever energy type I could find and blasted it into the mouth. The teeth became broken chunks of what they were, and a big billow of smoke came out. She was furious at this, giving me some time to phase away. The result of this wasn't too pleasing; because she was in my face the instant I did it. _Really fast learner,_ I thought as I was hit hard again. This time I flew out of control into another side of the mountains.

When I hit, I knew I wasn't going to be getting up any time soon. _Note to self. When you get out of this mess, pick a fight with Vegeta every time you see him for more battle experience at this level, or better yet, Goku. _I watched her shovel up and get ready for the final blow, but it never came, and I breathed a brief sigh of relief.

**-**

Apparently Kerrigan had seen enough of this beat down, because it was the Zerg forces that saved me. The flyers spit their missiles of bone and acid at her while the ground fighters either bit at her legs or attacked her by jumping on top. She handled all of the attacks very well, but was having trouble with some forty to fifty Zerg around. I closed my eyes on concentrated with my Psi again, getting my controlling vision in the process. I saw that her backside was bleeding pretty bad after I had struck it, and called the Mutalisks to hurl their bones at it and the Kamikazes to crash into her there. They did so and she buckled a bit, but then flew up in the air and mauled all of the Mutalisks, taking them down in one or two hits. _So much for that idea._

The Zerglings on the ground weren't gonna give up, but soon were getting splattered around as she jumped up and off the ground several times, squashing several at a time under her feet. Soon there weren't any Zerg left. I opened my eyes for real and snarled at her, but didn't move; it hurt too much at this point. I don't know if the thing smiled at me or not, but the way those broken teeth were showing it didn't look pleasant. Then a brown Zergling hit her in the side.

My eyes shot open, "No!!! Letch, don't!" He didn't listen, and her talon slashed him a second later. He fell lifeless on the field and the queen stomped on the body, splattering the remains. I fell silent in shock, for some reason the little Zergling had really touched my heart, and now his death had done the opposite. Then I felt my hidden powers stirring, and in a fit of rage I grabbed a hold.

"YOU BITCH!!!" I shouted powering up as I stood up. The extreme power of my Super Mystic form caused me to scream a bit, but that was fine, the queen wasn't sure what to make of me. Kerrigan knew though, because she was ushering Raynor to run. Then I heard the rest of the mountains and hills directly behind me get blown to dust in a blinding silver light that was my power being unleashed. I had to admit, it was impressive, and it felt damn good. I charged forward and smashed the queen over the head with double overhead fists. She stumbled in midair and I kicked her head, causing her to fall to the ground from the force. I growled a bit and fired mixed energy bolts at her, causing multiple wounds to open up. I barely recalled the fact that my energies stayed mixed together in this form, and I was too mad to care what I used. She jumped into the air and flew in the other direction, apparently trying to run. She wasn't getting away this time.

I flew up to an even level of altitude, watching her fly away from me. Then I dropped back as I started charging her death. The brief time I had known the little brown Zergling that had been completely loyal to me. It was gut wrenching to see him die, much like the panther cats on Tarsonis, and many of my friends as well. Those memories only fueled what was to come.

"Super Galic Gun!" The teal-green beam smashed into the queen and obliterated her instantly. As I caught my breath from the energy being expelled, I wept a few tears out for the little guy, but kept it limited to that. I landed near where Raynor and Kerrigan now were, powering down just slightly but keeping my form. Thinking rather constructively considering what happened, I decided to stay powered up for the time being. My Super Mystic form was starting to become a little easier, but I still couldn't transform and drop out at will; I passed out every time I did.

"Cool eyes, kid," Raynor noted with a noticeable shake in his voice.

**A/N: Verto has wasted the queen and her little aliens and the eclipse is over. Ya'll knew that was coming though.**

**Next time on DBV: The Overmind grants Verto's request to train and his infestation slows to a halt. Elsewhere Videl deals with her afterlife training and the Briefs family gains a new member.**


	15. A Break in the Action

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 14: A Well Deserved Break**

"So how do you turn your hair colors like that? Does that mean your getting old or something?" Raynor asked. I rolled my eyes in tune with Kerrigan's, except she smacked him upside the head with one of her talons.

"No Jim, its just a side effect when he uses his full power, that's all," she explained briefly.

"So what now?" Raynor asked.

"Well, me and the boy need to get back to the main hive and then report to the Overmind. You should go back to your ship and try to call for a ride off this planet," Kerrigan suggested, drawing a scowl from both of us. I said nothing though; she more than likely had a pretty good idea why I didn't like half of that plan.

"My transmitter is busted. Got shelled during the attack by those weird critters, might only take a few days to fix it with your help Sarah," he said, glancing down.

"Sorry Jim, I can't help you anymore than I already have. If we stay any longer, the others are going to find out about you being here. I don't think I need to tell you what will happen then. Be prepared for anything, if in a two weeks time you are still here, I'll see what I can do. Until then, goodbye Jim," she said, turning the other direction and walking towards an Overlord that was slowly coming to the ground.

I glanced back at her questioningly, "Wait a sec Kerrigan, shouldn't we try to fix his ship or something? We could use it to send me home; I'd like to get back home to my family! Kerrigan!" I shifted slightly to run after her.

"Sorry kid, looks like you're staying here for awhile. Besides, it would take a good while before my ship is fixed, even with her skills. You should go with her, with these things she tends to know what's best, I'll see ya around!" Raynor said, walking the other direction, across the new dust plain that used to be mountains before I blasted them apart during the battle. I growled slightly and dashed after her, climbing into the Overlord's transport area and sitting across from her.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" I asked, my power rising up a notch with my irritation. No doubt she noticed that, but she merely sighed slightly.

"We wouldn't make it out of here now, he has eyes everywhere. We had to leave Jim now otherwise he was going to send forces out here to handle it. Jim is a tough guy, he can survive out here. As for us, we need to make our report by telepathic message back at the hive, I'll show you how to do that when we get there," she seemed to stop herself in mid-phrase, probably realizing that she didn't need to teach me anything.

"Oh silly me, you have a bit of ability with that don't you, I forgot that you had that Namek as a teacher. No matter, you just need to connect with me and I'll do the transmitting," she said, causing my eyebrow to go up.

"Connect with you?"

"It isn't anything too special, so don't get excited."

I rolled my eyes again, "So, what do I need to say? If anything."

"Only if he asks you something, which will probably happen. As for your current state, I'll do what I can to slow your progress," she said, prompting me to ask another question before I figured it out by myself. _She must mean the infestation process._

"Exactly, since your Psi energy enables you to command Zerg in battle, he may just allow you to stay this way. If so, then you can work on your powers. You said yourself you've wanted to train some right?"

I nodded, "Yeah, otherwise this great power he speaks of will go to waste!"

"Okay then, if he chooses not to, well don't get too angry okay? He can fully infest you at pretty much any time if he so chooses. Especially now that you've been pretty close before you managed to hold it back, good job on that by the way," she said. I nodded grimly, sitting down and taking a breather, letting my power level rise a bit more to hold my Super Mystic form.

"Why don't you take a break? You feel like your starting to get exhausted!" she suggested.

"Nah I'm good. Besides, if I drop out of this form, I'm probably not going to wake up for awhile considering how much damage I took out there, and using this power tends to wear me out pretty quick as it is," I explained.

"But your body looks pretty healed now. All I can detect is minor scrapes and bruises. All of the open cuts and broken bones appear to be regenerated. That is a bit odd because you had reversed some of the infesting process. Is that some sort of ability you have?" Kerrigan asked.

"Well, it appears you don't know everything, lucky me. When we turn Super Saiyan, minor injuries tend to heal themselves so we can fight better. Happens with Super Mystic also I guess, its kind of automatic. I know how to heal myself if need be, Piccolo taught me that one too. There's a catch though if I choose that path, the sacrifice of energy. Self-healing will drain me just as much as any bad injury. Not usually something I like to do if I'm in a tight battle," I explained.

"Well we're not going to be back at the hive for a good while, at least a few hours. You did get pretty far out here before I managed to track you down, you should rest now," she almost sounded concerned.

"I'm also doing an exercise to master my form. The longer I hold it, the easier it is to call it up and I can start getting used to the energy output. Learned that a long time ago before Buu showed up," I explained further.

"Let me guess, the Saiyan prince Vegeta taught you to do that, right?"

"More of a self-taught thing really, but he suggested it. How is it you get to know so much about me and the others?" I asked.

"We have spies everywhere remember?" she said with an arrogant grin.

I growled, "How could I forget?" The Overlord rumbled a bit, something that sounded like a belch.

"Well anyway, I'm going to get some shuteye. You're welcome to join me," she winked suggestively. I passed, meditating in my Super Mystic form, slowly making it easier to hold.

-

By continually summoning my combined energy, which was easy since they were basically fused themselves together now: I kept my transformed state much longer than before, despite the fact I had burned so much of it up and was very hungry. Kerrigan tossed me another gator-like creature to eat, which I eagerly devoured despite the horrid taste of it. Eventually I had to drop out of Super Mystic, but I didn't pass out this time, just rubbed my eyes like crazy as I wanted to sleep pretty bad.

"Looks like you need to recharge those batteries again," Kerrigan said with a grin.

"Sleep and food and I'll be ready to go again in the morning," I said, leaning back against the Overlord's wall. An abrupt drop in altitude shook me, causing my sleepiness to vanish much like an airplane ride would.

"Well, looks like we're here. Feels a little weird on the descent eh?" she asked.

I glared slightly, "And they wonder why I prefer to fly myself." Kerrigan then led me to the center of the base where the primary hive cluster building stood. The base had drastically changed while I was gone. It had been practically nothing but ash, dirt and mineral deposits before. Now the purple creep was everywhere, the buildings were all constructed and just as massive as I recalled. There were Zerg troops everywhere, most of them patrolling or burrowed. The worker drones were also running about, collecting resources. We entered the hive cluster and I marveled on how much it looked like the Super Hive we had stayed in before, only there were more minions running about. We trudged down a ramp of some sort that seemed to spiral downwards for about a hundred feet around the center of the building. It got a bit colder, but the humidity increased, as did the level of darkness.

The walls seemed to illuminate themselves, but it was still dark in there. We reached the bottom level after a few minutes and I followed her into some sort of chamber that I had never seen before. Inside there was some sort of large brown creature with a purple aura surrounding it. The energy I felt coming off this thing was impressive, but it didn't seem to be able to move. On the side of it, a hole opened up and a purple eye slid in to fill it, I then recognized it to be the Cerebrate. I still noticed the Cerebrate in the back of my mind, but it had been leaving me alone ever since my first battle with the Terrans back on Tarsonis. Its presence seemed to cast some sort of soothing energy into the air, and I felt refreshed.

"Sit here," she pointed to a spot right in front of the eye. She and the Cerebrate seemed to have some sort of telepathic conversation going on that I wasn't invited to, but that was fine, I didn't care.

"Now close your eyes and take my hand, I'll do the rest. And remember not to think about anything you shouldn't!" I did so, wondering what exactly was going to happen in the next few minutes.

-

I walked out of the Cerebrate's chamber along with Kerrigan just a few minutes later. The experience of being connected with her was, very enlightening. I felt that I could see into her thoughts and memories without interruption, and she could see into mine. Whether she did so to me or not I don't know, I didn't spend that much time in that state. We had connected to the Overmind rather quickly, and the conversation that followed barely lasted five seconds. I had been in telepathic contact before, but never at such an advanced level of thought. I heard once that the human brain could process nine hundred words a minute. Whether that was true with a Saiyan brain or not, I wasn't sure, but I know reaction time is much slower than that, unless it came to fighting. Since Kerrigan did all the talking, err thinking in this case, I didn't have to worry. She told the Overmind a slightly edited version of what had been happening, leaving Raynor completely out. I didn't know if he could pick up on that fact that we were hiding him or not, but my thoughts never turned that way until contact was broken. She then turned my request over, getting a surprising approval from him. I was somewhat relieved when he didn't say anything more to the contrary, but she did send him a few mental pictures of my fight with the queen, so that must have sold him over.

"Well, I suppose you'll want to train tomorrow, so you better get some rest. I'll work on breeding you another pet, how does that sound?"

"Nah, that's ok," I said sadly.

"You sure?" she asked.

"Well he did come in handy and I was a little attached to him, but it might get in the way of my training. I'll tell you when I want another one, good night!" I said, heading for the room she had told me to sleep in. Truth was I wanted to get off the subject; it tore me up just to think about it. I had my suspicions that she had sent him in to help, or that I had accidentally done it when I was controlling the Zerg. She probably knew which one and wanted to make it up to me. I climbed into the slimy Zerg-like sleeping bag and passed out right away, the day had been long and hectic.

**Interlude 14.1 –Other Happenings-**

"Ha, I finally got you, dirty little ape!" Videl cheered as she held the furry monkey in her grasp. Bubbles switched himself around so he was on her back as she got up and dusted herself off. It had been a bit more than two months since she died, and she had been training with King Kai ever since then. She hadn't been able to catch Bubbles nearly as fast as Goku and the other Z fighters did. She should have been able to had she been going at it twenty four hours a day, except she had to do dishes a lot when King Kai cooked. Not only that, but when she slept, well that's exactly what she did, usually for most of a day. Also, there were some other factors that came into play and slowed her down. First she wasn't a Saiyan, being mated to one didn't count either. Secondly, King Kai kept increasing the weights of her training garb, which remained her white top with black shorts and a pink undershirt. Only the pink shirt had kept going up from five pounds to about one hundred, something she was not aware of. Third, it was ten times Earth's gravity up there, so the added weight had a greater effect. The final factor was West Kai. He never seemed to stop showing up just to give King Kai a lot of crap about being dead, having weak fighters and training a rookie girl that looked like she was fresh out of diapers. The last comment usually got Videl into a stew about it and pushed her harder to catch the monkey so she could chase West Kai down and splatter his head with a piece of heavy mining equipment.

"Hey Videl, good job! Ready for the next test?" King Kai called from his new house. It was new because Goku hadn't been there for about eight months, and therefore it could be rebuilt without the fear of it being blown up by one of the Saiyan's sparring sessions.

"Well, I was wondering how well I've come so far? This training has been kicking my ass ever since I got here, I never thought it would be this hard to catch a monkey!" Videl admitted.

"Hehehe, you probably would have caught him by the end of week three if I hadn't been increasing your weights every day. Allow me to take them off and you can try a jump in the air or something," King kai said, flipping his antennae around and causing them to glow. Instantly Videl felt much lighter, then jumped as high as she could into the air. She had to power up very quickly just to slow down before she was in orbit. In one way she was happy that she managed to release her ki so fast, on the other hand, it wasn't that good of a joke.

She slowly descended with a slight frown while King Kai was giggling like crazy, "And the High Jump gold goes to Videl Satan, daughter of the world champion!"

"Very funny, where's that monkey at? I bet I catch him in three seconds!" Videl boasted.

"Now now, you can chase him later. Your next test is more difficult, here's one hundred pounds of clothes back!" King kai said as his antennae glowed. Videl right away dropped a little, but she had been through it before and stood up easily. Then King Kai tossed her a large hammer weighing in about two hundred pounds by itself. While she struggled to pick up the huge hammer, he whistled for Gregory. When the cricket arrived with lightning quick speed, Videl immediately knew that this, like Bubbles, was not going to be a cakewalk.

"Here's another recruit Gregory, do your stuff until she can hit you. Take breaks when necessary of course, I'll be around if you need me!"

"Well little girl, you ready for the lesson from the supreme martial arts master Gregory?!" the cricket chirped.

"Shut up and bring on the noise bug boy!"

This got a chuckle or two out of King Kai, to the cricket's dismay, "Fine, you asked for it little girl, no crying when you get hurt!" Videl cringed as the tiny little bug blasted by her before she could get the hammer into the air, _Damn, now I see why this training is so effective!_

King Kai watched her chase Gregory around, swinging rather wildly the first few times due to the extreme weight. Within a few hours she had worn herself down and began to get a bit angry at the cricket who constantly insulted her. King Kai then detected something within Videl as she got up and came closer to sending Gregory into the distance. _So she has hidden strength as well, shouldn't be too hard to bring it out now._

-

"Here is your new baby girl Miss Briefs, congratulations!" a nurse said, handing a tiny bundle to Bulma, who lay exhausted but relieved in her bed. A crying Chichi sat in the corner, but only out of happiness. Trunks and Goten were then invited in by Yamcha, who had driven everyone to West City hospital.

"Where's my new brother?!" Trunks came in excited.

"Shhhh Trunks, you'll wake her!" Bulma hissed at him. Trunks quieted down, but didn't decrease his excitement as he peered over the rail to see his new sibling.

"And it's a girl Trunks, she's your new sister," Bulma corrected him. Trunks was right away saddened, he had wanted a new brother so he could be the training master instead of having to put up with Gohan, Verto, Vegeta and Piccolo all the time. Granted he didn't have to train with the Namek that much, but sometimes he thought Piccolo's tactics were a bit on the frightening side. He wanted to be the one handing out the ass kicking for once. But then he thought about it some more, and grinned at the thought of the many pranks he and Goten could pull since it was a girl.

"Have you thought of a name Bulma?" Chichi asked, ushering the kids back a little.

"Actually, Vegeta and I agreed that since I named Trunks, he would name our second child if we had one, and he was oddly particular about the naming. First off, if it was a boy, there were several different names he came up with, I mean besides another Vegeta if it looked just like him and what not. Most of which I'm told had to do with eye color, hair style and other things. I don't think I could remember them all if he didn't write them all down," she explained.

"Dad said it was tradition, the royal bloodline is only renamed if the next boy in line is an exact replica upon birth. It all sounded too weird anyway," Trunks filled in for the confused Goten.

"What's a replico? Ow!" Goten asked while Trunks smacked the side of his head.

"And what about the name for a girl? She does look a lot like you!" Yamcha clued in.

"Well if it was up to me, I would name her Bulma Leigh. But Vegeta only came up with one name to match her: Bulla. It sounds close enough so that's your name you little scientist!" Bulma cooed at the newborn, who didn't really respond due to the fact she was partially asleep. A tiny brown tail managed to slide up the backside of the newborn and nestle into the child's mouth, who then sucked on it.

"Still stinks its not a boy," Trunks whined a bit while he and Goten sat down next to Chichi, who was marveling with Yamcha and Bulma on how much Bulla resembled her mother despite being less than an hour out of the womb. Outside, next to the window but well out of sight, Piccolo floated nearby as a guard. It was something Vegeta asked of him while they were away. Normally Piccolo would barely regard doing a favor for Vegeta unless it was a threat to the earth, but the recent war had set everyone on better terms with each other.

Piccolo sensed the tiny half-Saiyan girl's energy, and smiled to himself, "At least this one won't be an arrogant prick, huh?!" he muttered before gasping in shock. The Kami part of him always had the gift of foresight, and some of it had remained when they had fused, but not much other than what the next few days might be like. When he touched the child's energy field, he caught a glimpse of her all grown up. She would indeed be just as beautiful as her mother, and a strong Super Saiyan like several of their friends. But that wasn't what caught Piccolo's attention, it was the vision he saw her in. The world's sky was red and black. She was along side what appeared to be an unknown girl that resembled Chichi and Videl. Next to them were three figures that resembled Trunks, Verto and Vegeta. Trunks seemed different somehow, and he was wearing earrings that seemed to glow golden. Vegeta's aura was crackling with power, but his hair was black and he had red fur across his shoulders and covering his arms, shoulders, sides and stomach. His tail was also red, and the fact that he had a tail was amazing for Piccolo to think about. He looked even more menacing with teal colored eyes much like a Super Saiyan's eyes would.

Then the memory switched to Verto, who was in the middle. Piccolo's eyes widened to the boy's appearance. His face and eyes were older and wiser with knowledge and experience, though the glare from the boy would make Vegeta flinch. He still greatly resembled Gohan except for the two thick bangs that hovered over his face and slightly shorter hair. His hair was a bright silver color; almost white and standing on end like most Super Saiyans. His eyes were glowing bright blue, occasionally dulling enough to make out a duller blue pupil. Piccolo recognized this as the Super Mystic form, but it was far stronger than before. His power felt lower than Vegeta's high form, but not by much. They seemed to be staring something or someone down. Something that alarmed Piccolo was that he didn't see Goku or Gohan around, nor himself, or any of the other fighters. As quickly as the vision came, it was gone, leaving him gasping for breath. The last piece of the vision showed a set of dark figures laughing as they rushed at it in battle mode. Piccolo silently thanked the Kami part of him that whatever that might have been was several years into the future. That left more than enough time to prepare for whatever that was, assuming everything went right until then. His mental triggers were then flipped again as he picked up on a telepathic message. It was faint and the source distant, and he couldn't even tell whom it belonged to, but he had a pretty good clue.

"_Help me!"_

**A/N: I didn't quite mean for the chapter to be that long, but there was a lot of stuff I needed to get out of the way since some of the major events are coming up soon, for such reasons I summarized the Overmind/Verto/Kerrigan conversation.**

**Bulma Leigh is the English dubbed name for Vegeta Jr's mother in the final episode of GT, I figured that would be a better name then Bikini or something like in the Japanese version. Even though I had Vegeta was picking the name Bulla, which is tons better then Bra in my opinion, it will be the same overall character. Honestly who needs to name their kids after underwear anyway? It fit Bulma since she was the babe queen, but the only cool one was Trunks, the rest of it you can toss out the window. I'll give Funimation its dues for that. As for Piccolo/Kami's vision, that is way into the future.**


	16. Balance of Energy

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 15: Balance of Energy**

Aldaris glanced up suddenly from his meditation as he felt a slight power surge from afar. It was in front of him, meaning somewhere around Char. Then his com beeped as Croton had a message for him.

"Judicator. We have detected a large energy signature on Char, other than the Overmind that is," he added.

"Yes I know, I felt it myself. It is more than likely the boy," he grumbled.

"Should we stay on course?"

"Yes imbecile, if it's a problem I will handle it. Now silence your idiotic tongue!" Aldaris grumbled. Croton simply cut the communication rather than acknowledging that, Aldaris was already in a foul mood by the sound of it. But in this case he wasn't, Aldaris grinned sharply at this. Since his short battle with Borgos, he was able to learn his many weaknesses when it came to his body and energy. He quickly learned Protoss did not possess high amounts of ki despite what he had displayed before. A Saiyan of low power could out power him easily much like Shugesh had. He had indeed discovered that Psi energy could easily be accessed in the same way. However he then entered meditation and did not leave that state until he grasped his own solution to the situation. He realigned his energies and compared ki and Psi. While they seemed to unlock a higher energy when mixed together, he felt he had better not mess with it as it seemed only equal amounts of each would mix properly. He had already tried mixing more Psi than ki and nothing happened. Oddly the opposite worked, mixing a little bit of Psi in with mostly ki made the energy stronger, but not nearly as strong as an equal amount of both.

His Psi was greatly higher than his ki, and thus he decided he must master using it as ki would be used. Then he tested it against some of his warriors in an all out brawl against him. Nothing but dust from their armor and weapons were left after he was done, and he barely got warmed up. While Aldaris was not much of a physical threat at all, his high amounts of Psi energy could decimate his warriors before physicality came into play. If necessary he could strengthen the shield over his body with his Psi, so much that an opponent's physical blows would not do him much if any harm. This pleased him greatly to say the least and he scraped the idea of using much ki at all unless he was desperate. His Psi was greater anyway, and he felt it was much greater than the boy's Psi level, or at least from what he could tell. With it he discovered he could increase his speed and durability, but his physical ability was not going to get much better than what it already was. Most would agree with him, brawling with a Saiyan was a bad idea. His grin got wider as he felt the ship getting much closer to Char. _Not much longer now boy, and you will find that you are not such a great warrior._ The view panned out as the ship got closer, only a few hours until arrival.

-

A few days behind the Protoss, General Duke watched the tactical display of Verto's power readings that his scientist kept record of. It had been recorded from the time he woke in the isolation chamber to the destruction of his battle cruiser fleet when they could no longer detect it. It rose sharply when his emotions shifted to anger or rage. It dropped during a more relaxed state, but all the time it was fluctuating.

"With energy like that, it's amazing that this boy can even hold his molecules together," a voice said behind him. Duke turned to see the only official ahead of him in rank, the emperor himself.

"Arcturus, glad you could come, but it may become volatile when we get to Char. Perhaps you should remain back with the main elite guard," Duke suggested.

"I've come to see this boy for myself, and there is another reason. I believe our late Lieutenant Kerrigan may be alive on the surface of Char. I would like to investigate that possibility further if we can," Mengsk said. Duke didn't agree, but didn't dare argue. Mengsk was right about things quite often, and he saved his ass when he should have left him for dead by the Zerg.

"General, latest scans have shown more fluctuations coming from Char. The energy signatures matches that of the young boy, and also the Overmind several thousand miles from him. The whole swarm is definitely there!" an officer said from a science station.

"Make sure that ion cannon is powered up and ready to fire should that overgrown menace try to escape. We're getting it by the roots this time!" Duke ordered.

"Yes sir!"

"General, there is another energy fluctuation, its from the small Protoss ship we detected heading for Char. Its signature is very powerful, almost like there are many Protoss ships clumped together, but there is only one ship that we can detect!"

"Interesting," Mengsk said.

"Perhaps there is more to this than we know, keep us informed when they land on Char. I want to know every possible thing that is happening when the Protoss get there!" Duke finalized before looking at an energy comparison chart between the three.

-

Goku and Gohan sparred lightly at low power, trying not to blow up any more of the gravity chamber like they did the other day. No one else was up yet, and Goku wanted to talk to his son about his life as of late. It had been just about a month since they stopped at Frost's base, and Gohan hadn't said much more to anyone after that. Goku hardly ever had a father-son talk that didn't involve training or food, so Gohan knew something was up and decided to ask before his father gave up on trying to figure out a good starting question to ask.

"So what did you need Dad? I know you want to talk to me about something but just don't know how to start, right?" Gohan began. Goku stopped in mid punch, wondering how his son figured it out already, but quickly dismissed it.

"Well Gohan I just want to know how you're doing, you don't say much to us as it is, and I know you miss Videl very much. So do I, but sealing yourself off from everyone is starting to get on my nerves a little," Goku said as gently as possible. Luckily Gohan didn't jump to conclusions irrationally, he was smarter than that.

"Well Dad, considering everything that has happened lately, I'm sure it comes to no surprise that I'm a little depressed. I really want to find Verto and get this over with. Every time someone tries to talk with me, Videl gets brought up somehow and I just freeze and shutdown. I miss her so much Dad, and I know we could have gone to Namek first, god knows I've wished we did just so I could see her again. But Vegeta's right, we should find Verto first, and then that bastard Aldaris!" Gohan growled slightly at the end. Goku felt that maybe he should change the subject to something he could relate better to.

"So Gohan, how far have you progressed with your Super Mystic form? I'll bet you could double your maximum power now!" Gohan looked slightly grim, and he felt he explained it before, but this was Goku after all.

"Actually Dad, it isn't going to get that high. You've noticed I've been meditating a lot lately before and after sparring right? I've been testing Psi in both states and I have a lot of it, but I have much more ki power in comparison. Now I know it doesn't take much to enhance it with Psi, but the higher power comes from a balance of both energies. I have to power down, to power up," Gohan explained. Goku looked clueless.

"Well you know how we Saiyans have a lot of ki flowing through us when were powered up. I have to cut that amount down quite a bit before I pull up Psi to try to go Super Mystic. I get more power overall, but I have to concentrate more on it. So it's almost like I give up a lot for something that isn't that great. I've been thinking that maybe I shouldn't rely on it that much, other than extra energy when I really need it. I've sensed the Psi in everyone on the ship, and I don't thing Psi is normal for a Saiyan. It might be a side effect of the Mystic change and perhaps Old Kai didn't know about it. It's barely as strong as Master Roshi in even you and Vegeta," he said. Goku nodded in understanding.

"However, I think Verto could excel in it, or perhaps master at using both sources of energy to their full potential, you know why dad?" Goku shook his head, to no surprise for Gohan.

"When I last sensed him, it felt almost like he was split between his two energies, and they felt very similar. Meaning I think his energies are almost balanced," he said. Goku still didn't quite get it.

"Well you know why you guys can't feel much on the Protoss right?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah, you told us they didn't have much ki to feel, but their Psi was high and that our Psi was barely there but our ki was high. So were opposites or something right?" Goku rubbed the back of his head like only he could.

"Yeah Dad, but Verto's energies are both high. I think with the right training he could use either or both. Example, his ki power went down drastically after being turned back into a kid, but when we go Super Mystic, our ki and Psi pretty much fuse together. It's actually harder to separate them. When I was training the other day, Grandpa noticed that my power reading really didn't increase by very much, he guessed maybe ten to fifteen percent at the most. Verto though, I remember sensing him when he first went Super Mystic with his balanced energies, it was like a fusion within himself and his power doubled. It was just as high as you or Vegeta at Super Saiyan three, talk about a lot of power for just a child! Maybe it's a good thing that he's a kid again with that kind of power. I doubt he could control it very well if it was any higher, even in his adult state!"

"Yeah no kidding, you wanna get something to eat Gohan? Vegeta and the others should be up soon!" Gohan nodded and walked out of the chamber with his Dad, glad they had a small talk, even though Gohan did most of the talking.

Something then tripped in Gohan's mind and his eyes widened in sync with a horrifying thought: _What if Verto is turned to the evil side with all that power?_ Gohan shuddered at the thought and was right away glad that Verto hadn't trained much with Psi, or that he knew of.

-

Up on the bridge, Tassadar was just getting up to make his daily rounds, although traveling constantly in hyperspace didn't add up to much everyday. Krator was waiting with a new report however and his interest peaked.

"Executor, we detected several high energy signatures while you were inactive. It appears to be coming from and approaching Planet Char, which is for the most part on our current course following the traitor Aldaris and his ship's ion trail," Krator handed him a pad with information regarding the energy.

"Can we make out what energy source is what?"

"Well the first and largest one is definitely the Zerg Overmind. It matches every signature we have on that creature, the other four are slightly puzzling. First there are two other sources coming from Char's surface, one of them very high as well, but slightly lower than the Overmind's. There's a smattering of lower ones that are around the same level as each other," he pointed out.

Tassadar had that one figured out quickly, "The high one must be the boy Verto. The lower powers nearby might be Kerrigan or the Cerebrates, but I am unsure. What of these other two in space?"

"One we are not sure of, but has been occurring repeatedly since we started detecting it along Aldaris's ion trail. The other we believe belongs to a large Terran fleet from the Dominion, it is following the other towards Char," Krator summed up, waiting for Tassadar's orders. Tassadar let that all soak in before taking a seat in his captain's chair.

"So five different powers out there, six if you count Kerrigan. Who's going to have the advantage after all this," he mused.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand, six?"

"The sixth being ourselves of course. One is the Overmind and Zerg, though I'm sure Kerrigan is aligned with it. Second being Verto, infested or not I believe his power can resist the Overmind. Third is Aldaris, who either has already figured out how to channel his power like a Saiyan can, or perhaps has found a new way, we shall see. The fourth is the Emperor's fleet, that may be a deciding factor in all of this. Finally ourselves, a small but powerful band of allies. Things will definitely get interesting soon, how long until arrival at Char?"

Krator punched a few buttons on his pad to bring up those results, "Aldaris's ship will be there in a few hours, the Terran fleet in a few days. Ourselves about nine days!"

Tassadar thought this over for a few more minutes, "Inform Prince Vegeta and the others when they are all awake, and monitor all energy fluctuations from here on out and report them to me in order from which we detect them every six hours!" he ordered, rising to leave the bridge.

"Executor?" Krator asked just as Tassadar was leaving.

"Yes?"

"Perhaps we should be trained on how to use our own energy like the Saiyans can," Krator suggested.

Tassadar shook his head quickly, "I have considered that option, but remember that it is against our current ways because of history. Templar of the old did resort to such an option, and there is more than one reason why it is not to be considered. Aldaris has been easily driven mad with this sudden obsession. As skilled as he is and as skilled as he may become, it is still uncharted territory to him. As you may know, Templars are generally not as aggressive and power hungry as Zealots are known to be. That is why Zealots are not allowed into the learning temples until they have passed the tests. It is an intriguing thought to be able to use that incredible amount of power, however that could easily drive all of us into madness and cause the collapse of our beliefs and society. I forbid that action be taken!"

"Understood sire, will Aldaris demand the same from his followers?" Krator asked.

"An excellent question indeed. However Aldaris has enough problems testing his own power, I seriously doubt he will risk others turning against him in the same manner," Tassadar explained.

**-**

I blasted another mountain apart in slight frustration. It had been about six days since we had that war with all of those aliens, and we hadn't seen another trace of them since I destroyed the queen. I had been working on my Super Mystic transformation, but I just couldn't transform at will yet. I had to be angry, which could lead to mistakes if I was in a blind rage. I had hit the level a few more times with the right mental pictures, but the result was still the same. I was still severely exhausted once I powered down, it was just so damned hard to get used to. I wasn't even sure if I was doing it right, getting angry was simple enough, but there just had to be a better way. Psi control was another thing I was a bit irked about, but not quite as much. My senses were slowly getting better, but other than using it with ki as the mixture and the sword, I wasn't sure how to use it in a different way. The sword never took much to use anyway, it was like holding a ki blast and just not letting go of it.

_There just has to be a better way to use this so-called great energy, but how? _Kerrigan noticed my frustrations, but wisely kept herself and the other Zerg away. The only really good thing was that everything was getting easier, just slowly. I never was that patient with things when they go wrong, or just not fast enough, a Vegeta trait I really wished that I didn't have. I sat down and panted slightly after blowing up one of the many mountains I had chosen as my targets today, and got ready to meditate some when I sensed Kerrigan come up behind me.

"Perhaps I can help a little. There are a few techniques I know, if you want it of course," she suggested. I didn't really care for her help on the mastery of my own energy, but I was usually open to helpful advice, no matter how insufficient. So I moved aside for her to sit next to me.

She sat behind me instead and put a hand on my shoulder, "What you need is practice manipulating your energy in ways that you aren't used to. Your usual ways won't be effective unless you try something new and adjust to that instead. Now close your eyes and concentrate on your Psi." I did so, concentrating on it was easy, as long as my ki wasn't completely zapped for the day, which it wasn't.

"Now instead of calling it up and concentrating it within yourself, try spreading it thinner into field of energy and extend it around those six Zerglings over there. Do it gently. Don't worry about making it do anything yet," she said, pointing it out as I had opened my eyes again. I did so, but it felt strange not concentrating my energy into a thicker point.

"Now when I say, I want you to move it around slowly with your mind. Just circle it about ten feet above them for starters!" she whispered in my ear, lapsing my concentration slightly. I did as she asked, noticing that my Psi got slightly volatile when I did, but didn't do anything.

"Now I want you to speed up its movement, and keep going faster until you feel its just right to strike. Then ignite it by moving it downward as fast as you can!" she ordered. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that statement, but since I was already moving it around a little, I could do it. Once I had it moving fast enough, I saw the Zerglings looking in the air.

"When you're ready, focus it downward quickly," she egged me on. I moved it down to the ground like she said, and watched as blue lightning bolts streaked down and struck all of the Zerglings several times, killing all of them instantly.

"Whoa," I said in amazement.

"Oh come on now, you've seen the Psi Storm technique before. I used it on you before remember? You just executed an extremely slowed down version of it. Most of the time it barely takes two seconds from start to finish. Try practicing it for awhile!" She stood back as I did so, but this time I recast it over barren areas, I already had my fill of bloodshed lately. Soon I got it down to a science, but all the practice drained me a bit.

"I just wish my body would get going a little sooner. Being a kid kinda slows down my training with these things, I tire too quickly!" I said.

"Well it happens, sometimes the best abilities don't require the strongest of energy. You'll just have to be patient," she said in slight support. _Yeah right_.

"Something you should know, that Psi storm technique is not that effective against beings that can channel their Psi like that. It kind of depends on the amount of energy behind it as well. It didn't work on you and Gohan when you powered up for that reason. It can work on most Protoss warriors because they only access it through the use of technology. But against Templars and other beings that are used to that sort of thing, it may not affect them much. You could probably use a more powerful version of it because you know how to access your full power, but be wary about using it on a strong spiritual presence!" she warned.

"I can tell that it's a small amount of energy required to do it, but what if I used a stronger form of it with a lot of power?" I asked.

"I suggest refraining from that for now, it would come down very fast and much stronger. But it could pierce through the planet's crust if it is too focused and misses. I've never seen one do that, but I also haven't seen a much more powerful being use it either," she warned again.

"Okay, but I think that I know how I can develop more techniques with my Psi, I'll just try meditating more by surrounding the area with my Psi and see what I can come up with there! Doing that seems like it can be useful in many ways," I said with a nod, understanding what she meant.

"Okay, just try not to blow the planet up," she said with a smile. I worked on this new Psi Field technique that she had shown me first, noting that it could be easily done with thin layers of energy. Kerrigan didn't offer any more advice, only observed as I constantly surrounded the area with it, pulling and pushing outward. This drained me mentally, concentration like that was relatively new to me. Soon we headed back to the hive where I quickly ate and went to bed. Even though I was tired, I didn't sleep well. Towards morning I sensed a Psi presence in the air, and it felt kinda familiar. I sat up and yawned as the presence had slowly roused me completely and I got a better lock on where it was coming from. It was not on the planet, ruling Kerrigan and the Overmind out. It soon would be, I frowned slightly, there was an eerie feeling to it, like there was a battle on the way.

**A/N: Well, I'm sure y'all can tell a Verto vs. Aldaris battle is coming up soon. **


	17. Aldaris Arrives

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 16: Aldaris Arrives**

Kerrigan brought me breakfast much like every other day, but today seemed a little different. She didn't seem quite as cheerful or talkative, which got my attention. Granted she was supposed to be somewhat emotionless anyway, but it was in a sad sort of way.

"Aren't I supposed to be giving you the silent treatment?" I asked.

She frowned slightly, "Listen Verto, I may not be here much longer to guide you through this period of your life. You're going to have to fend for yourself." I raised my eyebrows slightly, a bit confused as to what that meant.

"What do you mean? I'm a Saiyan. I can handle fending anything, and where are you going?"

"Well maybe not anywhere, I don't know yet. But something is going to change very soon...be prepared," and she left it at that. The Psi presence I sensed during the night had gotten much closer and it felt like it might have landed on the planet already.

"You're sensing him too?" Kerrigan asked.

"I've been sensing something for quite some time now since I went to bed yesterday, not quite sure what it is. I thought it was big ugly for a while, until I sensed it wasn't on the planet. Feels like it's here now," I said with a smile.

"Well I expect we will receive orders to check it out here shortly, no doubt he senses it as well," she said, referring to the Overmind obviously. Not a half minute later I got a telepathic message, and so did Kerrigan.

"_The Protoss are here! Cerebrate, send your forces to eradicate them. Use caution, there is something amiss here,"_ a different, slightly more snake like voice said. It wasn't deep like the Overmind's voice was, sounded more like Zasz only with a gurgle sound to it.

"That was Daggoth, and he's right there is something amiss about this," she added.

"A few Protoss eh, well don't ask me to get involved. I've had a bad enough memory of them," I said, crossing my arms.

"I won't have to ask you, I can tell you who is in charge of this small fleet. Aldaris!" A lot of things went through my head suddenly, many of them involved the torture that old prune had put me through shortly before I was locked in that icy stasis cell.

I growled slightly, "We're leaving!"

"Verto wait!" Kerrigan called out as I ran out the organic door. I turned around only for a second as she ran up to me.

"Tell me why I should? That old bastard interfered with things that he shouldn't have. He hurt me and my friends, and now he's going to pay! I've fought him before, and he wasn't much to think about then, when I wasted him!"

"But Verto, something about him is different this time! At least let me come with you and bring some Zerg along, okay?" she practically begged.

I rolled my eyes slightly, "Okay, but that Overlord better be moving fast!"

Kerrigan didn't say anything to me on the way there, or just didn't know how to say it. I didn't care; I was completely refocused on how I was going to dismantle Aldaris' head. The only thing I wasn't sure of was how I should remove his eyes, with ki beams or just my bare fingers. I sensed that Kerrigan has brought a small amount of Zerg along for the ride, which was okay just in case he still had some of that ki disruptor technology. My physical abilities were probably still enough to deal with the rogue Protoss; they had worked before as long as I kept aware of everything that was happening. Kerrigan never did tell me the complete story on how everyone escaped, other than they had busted loose and chased him off the planet. That didn't really surprise me, he seemed pretty careless about bottom details. Still, she wasn't telling me something that I needed to know.

"So what is it you want to tell me?" I asked.

"Oh nothing, nothing that will help anyway," she said quickly.

"Gee. Good answer," I said pitifully.

"Well, nothing you want to hear right now. If you're going to fight him, you don't need any distractions!"

"Got that right," I agreed finally.

"We're here," she said as the Overlord suddenly dropped, making me a little queasy.

**-**

We got off the Overlord to see there was indeed a Protoss ship on the ground, though it looked a little different from the rest. It looked slightly smaller than a Carrier ship, but more advanced like a private shuttle. It didn't matter to me, I'd gladly destroy it if I had to. No Protoss soldiers had come out yet, but the ramp was starting to descend. A lot of the Zerg perked up then, but Kerrigan made them stay back. I watched a few Zealots come down the ramp first, then a black-headed Templar that I thought I recognized as Aldaris' assistant, but I wasn't sure. Then the gray-headed bag of shit made his presence known, walking down the ramp slowly with a thick green robe covering his gold plated armor underneath.

"Well well, look what we have here. Inferior creatures all around," he said slyly as he turned his head up and locked eye contact with me.

"What do you want here Templar?" Kerrigan snarled. I cast an eye her way for a second; she had made it quite clear she wasn't too fond of the Judicator either.

"Well...it's the Terran shrew that likes to hide in the shadows! My dear Kerrigan, I am only here for the boy. Just leave and I promise nothing will happen to you or your precious Zerg. Interfere and I'm afraid I can't make that guarantee," he said, continuing his cocky tone.

I snorted a little louder, getting everyone's attention again, "You want me, come and get me. I dare you!"

"Ah the foolish boy, I admit I underestimated your powers before. A mistake I will not make again, for its now your turn to feel pain like you've never felt! Then I'll find out what makes you so unique, give up now if you want to skip the painful part!" he suggested.

I grinned, "Yeah, right, like I would back down from you. Gonna try that trick with the ki disruptors again, huh? I'm ready for it!"

"I have no need for that pitiful device, I will take care of you myself!" he boasted.

"If I recall, I downed you in one punch, and trust me it wasn't a hard punch. I'd be glad to use one now!" I warned. Aldaris stepped forward and beckoned his troops back into the ship, though his assistant stayed outside. Then some of the Zerg got restless. Since he was being a bit arrogant, I decided to scan his energy. What I felt was about the same as I sensed before with the Protoss, very little ki and a lot of Psi. I didn't feel too concerned, as I understood they couldn't channel it like I could, nor had I felt them do such a thing.

"I'm warning you Aldaris, leave here now!" Kerrigan said, but she didn't sound quite sincere about that. More like she was nervous or afraid.

"Gladly, after I've conducted my business here. Disposing of all of you un-evolved pond scum will be easy enough. Then your precious lord the Overmind, and of course this little rodent. He may be the simplest of all," he grinned as he verbally jabbed at me again.

"You're going to do all that? As much as I'd like to see that, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel your schedule. An important call came up for you; it's from the Grim Reaper! I'll let you meet him in just a moment," I declared.

"I don't know who this Grim Reaper is, but I'll be more than happy to take care of him as well! Let's get started, shall we?" he asked.

"Of course," I said, cracking my knuckles sharply and getting my senses in order so I could keep an eye on everything around me. Suddenly I felt the Zerg shifting around and they all went in after Aldaris, probably about forty groundlings in all. I sensed Kerrigan had ordered them to do so.

"Aw, and I was gonna have all the fun too!" I whined slightly. Kerrigan didn't have a smile on her face, more like a hopeful determined look. I glanced back at Aldaris, who wasn't running in fear to my surprise, instead I saw a sharp grin shine up on his face. The energy in the air shifted slightly and the Zerg got closer. Then several Zerglings hit some sort of energy shield that extended about ten feet away from Aldaris, causing them to bounce back.

_Not bad, I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise. But then again, I thought their shield only covered their skin. Well, he's supposed to be a hot shot Templar after all, maybe he does know a few tricks._ The shield lit up as multiple Zerglings pinged off of it and fell backwards. Then I felt Aldaris' Psi level skyrocket as an energy ball formed in front of him. He raised his hand and shot it forward. It exited his shield and zapped many of the Zerg in front of it with lightning bolts coming out of it in quick spurts, before exploding in the middle of the pack, leaving only a few stragglers left.

_Okay, that was different_. I almost couldn't believe it; he had used his Psi just like ki. I frowned slightly for underestimating what he could do, but since I hadn't engaged him yet, I wasn't too concerned, just more careful. The few Zerg left then attacked him again, this time a shield didn't go up. He shot one in the face with a Psi beam, and it clipped another in the chest. The last Zergling leapt at his face only to be caught by his hand. Psi lightning erupted from his grasp and shocked the Zergling until it burned into ash. I growled slightly, the loss of Zerg didn't bother me as much as the general bloodshed did.

"Now that the scum is out of the way, shall we begin boy?" he asked, sneering.

"Gladly," I said as I began to powerup.

-

Since he had already displayed his further knowledge with his Psi, I didn't hesitate to access mine as well. It did provide a slight drain my ki for the time being, but it would give me a few more options, plus give my senses a boost. My aura seemed to scare the other Protoss into backing up the ship into the air, but Aldaris and his assistant remained on the ground. I began to circle the old Templar slowly, hovering a foot or two off the ground.

"You might as well give up boy, or suffer greatly!" he said with his continued smile. I kept my focus, figuring he had planned this battle out thoroughly, but probably hadn't counted on any tactics I might come up with. I fired a small ki blast directly at him before phasing out and coming at him from the other side. As I predicted, the Psi shield appeared to cancel out the ki blast, and it left me with an opening. I dashed in and kicked him in the back of the head. I noticed his outer skin seemed to light up with blue Psi right before each hit, from his regular plasma shield no doubt. His bouncing form skipped a few feet before he dropped to the ground, rubbing his mouth full of blood. I phased out again before he could get up, and hammered his back this time with a double axe handle. I smashed right through his smaller shield again, but it did shock me just a little in response. He dropped and groaned in pain.

"So where's that power at? I dropped you in two hits! Hardly an improvement," I said, kicking his gut and breaking the armor.

"Whoever said I was done, boy," he suddenly asked as if he hadn't taken damage at all. I sensed he then covered his body in his Psi energy.

_He's using his Psi to strengthen his body much like we do with our ki, or maybe its just his shield. Either way he can take more damage this way; I better be more careful about close combat._ He cast his hand forward and fired another Psi beam, but this time it was aimed at Kerrigan and traveling way too fast for her to dodge it. I growled and phased out again, reappearing with Psi sword in hand, ready to handle his beam. Then he empowered it and it turned into the equivalent of a big Kamehameha. I thrust the sword forward, holding it up to block the beam.

"Move, now!" I shouted at Kerrigan, who didn't waste a second. The huge Psi beam hit and took me off my feet initially. My sword was barely holding up to it, so I powered it up more and got a better grip on it before turning the beam upwards into the sky.

"Using a woman as your shield? Coward!" I said loudly.

"That and conducting a few experiments of my own. Something you can't really do in the isolation of your own ship," he explained as if he had an excuse for it.

"Bring it here, this is where the battle is," I waved him on. He then hovered off the ground and rose a little higher into the air. I sensed that he was not using ki to levitate himself, all Psi. _Maybe I outta try that for my training._ I prepared for his next attack, whatever it may be. He held his palm upwards and started charging something big. _Oh great._ A house-sized ball of energy appeared in the air, and judging by the power I felt from it, it wasn't going to be as easy to deflect.

"Here's another little test! If you care to remain alive, you will have to deflect this, otherwise say goodbye to Char!"

"Is there something you missed about this?! You're fighting me, so leave the planet out of it!" I shouted at him. He didn't seem to listen, instead he tossed the ball of Psi my way.

"Fine then," I lined up with him and the ball as it dropped towards me, and shot a red Galic Gun into it. The ball started pushing my beam back on the initial contact, so I pumped power into it, using both energies. That got it rolling as my beam turned green and it sped back at Aldaris. _There's no way his frail body can stand up to that!_ The ball and beam hit and lit up the skies with its explosion. I grinned when I saw no sign of him.

"You know, that might have hurt if it had hit me!" a voice said. I turned only to get a hard fist in the face. It was Aldaris, but I hadn't even sensed him move! I flipped up and wiped the tiny blood trail from my mouth. He then started to chase me, fully intent on punching me again. _Well if it's a physical fight he wants, I'll gladly oblige!_ I sped in with my fist drawn back; only he seemed to fade out as I swung. Then an armored boot got me in the gut. _Damn, after image!_

"Aren't so tough now are you boy? Once you face someone with higher skill you falter, who's going to be the coward now?" _So he wants it that bad._ I wiped a small trickle of blood as I rose off the ground and powered up to the max. Granted it wasn't that much of a power up since I was almost up there already, but with two energies it would do. I sped forward again and waited for him to phase out again, which he did, then I did. This confused him long enough for me to get a good punch in from behind. He recovered quickly and punched back at me. I blocked and kicked. The melee was on.

_-_

_Okay, since when did a Protoss learn to fight like this?_ Aldaris wasn't as physically strong as I was, but his speed was impressive, and I had trouble hitting him. A few minutes went by before we separated and landed about thirty feet from each other. I kept scanning him with my energy senses, constantly picking up that Psi coating around his body. _Just as I thought, that's how he's able to keep up with these hits. He's obviously learned how to channel his Psi like we do ki. Where he learned it from so quickly is the question though. That and he's making a more tightly wrapped shield with it and that probably prevents him from taking a whole lot of damage. Maybe it's the mastery of the energy making him tougher, one or the other. _

"What's wrong, boy, a little dazed and confused? Not so cocky anymore are we?"

I snorted slightly, "Just cause you can fight a little more now doesn't mean you have the advantage. You think I don't know how to fight like this? You don't train with the Prince of all Saiyans and not know how to handle a physical battle!"

"Then the question is, boy, how long will you last?" Aldaris pondered.

"That's your question old man. You might be fast and powerful, but your body is not strong at all. One hard hit will drop you for the count!" I said in defiance.

"I don't know if you noticed, but you're not exactly hard iron...but by all means. Show me if you can!" he said, waving a hand towards himself. We engaged in another scuffle that had me chasing after him constantly at almost top speed. He was faster, and I again sensed it was all Psi he was using, no ki. He didn't try to hit me at all, instead just evasion, which stirred some anger and made me a little sloppy. I cleaned it up by phasing in and out multiple times in front of him, making him guess where I was going to appear.

_Now I've got you!_ I phased behind once he was looking around forward and drew back to take his head off. Suddenly his energy spiked and I was shocked by his Psi and sent flying backwards. I growled sharply for not sensing that trap, he had spread out his shield again and combined it with the Psi Storm move. But there was a lot more energy behind it this time, totally stronger than what had been used against me before. My theory about adding energy to the effect was certainly true, and I never even sensed it coming.

"Obviously you cannot do what you promised. Now I guess I'll show you something...something I've been saving especially for you!" He charged his Psi again into his palm, but I didn't think it was going to be a big blast by the way he was concentrating it. I was right.

"Death Beam!" A blue version of it shot out of his finger quickly. I ducked and let it blast apart the mountain behind me. Another was fired, but I dodged that too. He fired three more; the last one nearly hit when I phased out using After Image.

"Is that what you were waiting to show me, pathetic! What did you do, consult the handbook of Frieza's crappy moves?" I shouted from his left side now.

He grinned slightly, "You could say that. I guess I did underestimate you again, won't happen anymore!"

"Famous last words. Bring it!" Then he turned partially to the side and started channeling his energy like a power up. A blue aura appeared around him and shined brightly with lightning striking around him. His some of his armor blew off and his head dressing did as well, revealing silvery gray hair that stood long and draped down along his shoulders. I gasped slightly as I didn't expect this much power to be coming off of him, and it was rapidly getting too big for my liking.

_I have to remember, I have to beat him with ki now. Psi probably isn't going to work quite as well._ I kept that thought in mind as he laughed silently, looking at his hands in delight. The ground seemed to vibrate just a little, but the air around him seemed awfully charged with energy. This was going to be a tough fight, especially if I had to stay at a minimum range, which looked like it would work to his advantage.

**A/N: Next time on DBV: The battle continues and Aldaris' new power becomes too much for Verto to handle and our young hero begins to lose power. Can Verto find the power he needs to defeat Aldaris, or will the evil Templar capture Verto and carry out his evil plans? The fight concludes next time on DBV.**


	18. Tie Breakers

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 17: Tie Breakers**

I growled as I picked myself up from the dirt, Aldaris had out foxed me again in the speed department, but his blow hadn't hurt that much. While he was faster, and his power felt a great deal bigger, his physical strength and ki energy wasn't much, so I figured I could at least wear him out. That and it was beyond obvious that he wasn't used to this kind of energy output yet, if he had any experience beyond a month or two I would probably be in the afterlife now. It had been probably about an hour since the battle had started, and the only thing that had changed was his power level going up. I hadn't chanced a big blast or beam yet. It would end the battle, but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to hit him at the speed he was going. I was going to have to ground him first, and that would take awhile. Since his power was bigger than mine, he could now risk a physical encounter with me, I had expected the opposite. I panted slightly as I rose up again, and I was really hoping that he was getting tired at this point. He didn't seem to be wavering much, I felt I might have to risk the big one very soon.

"Running low boy? You can give up anytime now!" he sneered.

"Keep dreaming about beating me freak show, I can keep this up all day!" I declared.

"You're the one who is out of breath, and you're trying to tell me you can keep up? Prove it!"

"But he can Aldaris!" Kerrigan shouted from afar. I glanced her way, knowing she was bluffing on my behalf to get the advantage on him.

"Sure he can! It just shows like the sun through these dark clouds of ash!" he laughed at her.

"Don't you see his tail, arrogant Protoss?" she asked with a smirk.

"What about his little monkey tail? It's green now instead of brown...so what?"

"Any infested being retains regeneration ability like any Zerg, didn't you know that?" she asked.

"What of it, witch?" he said with a frown.

"The regeneration is what allows the Zerg to keep fighting at full strength until the last breath is taken away by the enemy!" Kerrigan claimed, full bluff. I grinned slightly; she knew that wasn't going to work as I wasn't very infested now. I only had a little bit of extra stamina, not enough to continue a fight all day like this. But if he was desperate enough, he would go on the attack instead of me. That meant all I had to do was evade him until he wore down, and that was always easier then attacking. Quite the opposite way that this fight had been going. I had been the aggressor and quite honestly, I was not making any progress with it.

"Not only that Aldaris… it is said that the longer a Saiyan fights, the stronger he becomes!" _Damn I didn't even have to tell her that one._ It seemed her constant telepathic watch on me worked in my favor today, because Aldaris suddenly frowned and sped towards me.

"Time to find out, boy!" he shouted and punched forward. I grinned more and phased out as he did, appearing behind him and firing a ki blast that struck him in the back. _Score one for Kerrigan._ He jumped up quickly and tried the same tactic, only this time the ki blast I fired bounced off his shield again. I evaded a few more attacks, blocking most of them before flip kicking him in the chin. He was stunned, and it gave me the second I needed to charge my power.

I flipped around as I charged my favorite attack with both energies, "Super Galic Gun!" The beam shredded the ground in front of him and struck just as I heard him scream in agony. I smirked very Vegeta like when I saw him lying in the dirt. _Well that's that, maybe I can get his crew to take me home._ I walked towards the ship just as the assistant started backing up the ramp. Kerrigan had been nearby, but I didn't see her now, until the assistant's head started rolling without the body, which collapsed in a heap. Kerrigan came down from the top of the ramp, ready to go inside the ship.

"Let's get outta here!" I said happily.

"Hold it Verto! This ship is for Jim! Remember, you can't escape, he could kill you with a thought even partially infested!" she said in a very serious tone.

I rubbed the back of my head as I grinned, "Heh! Whoops, I forgot about that!"

She rolled her eyes slightly, "Well at least you gave me some credit for getting Aldaris to make a mistake like that! Score brownie points for you!" I laughed along with her until I sensed a high Psi presence in the air. I scanned around but didn't see or hear anything moving.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know! I don't think I got him...I still sense his energy!" I said with a low tone. _Damn! How did he survive that, Vegeta killed one with ease back on Earth once he was down. So did I even when they were all attacking me, and some without my energy! I know he didn't have his energy shield up, it would have bounced off! And the plasma shield wouldn't have mattered! Where is he?_

"Good question, I think the signal is coming from over there!" she pointed out. We walked over to see Aldaris on the ground, not moving.

"Huh?" we both asked as the energy spiked again. Then I was suddenly hit hard in the back of the head by something. I turned as I hit the ground to see Aldaris appear again, but he was also on the ground next to me.

"What's wrong boy? You look surprised to see me, and after all you only killed a phantom!" I looked back to see he was right, the fake Aldaris vanished into thin air.

"So that wasn't you I was fighting?" I asked.

"I've been here the whole time, you were just a bit too slow on your great attack. Long enough for me to leave a phantom trail when you turned around and fired. Good thing I did, that certainly would have done me some damage...maybe. Hahahahahaha! Commander, if you're listening I want you to lift off! I don't want my ship damaged, otherwise, where will we put his carcass? Muahahahaha!" he laughed again, fueling my determination.

-

"Perhaps you didn't hear me or her earlier, I can go all day! So consider that a little rest break you managed to take!" I said, spitting blood from my mouth and dropping into a fighting stance.

"I have many more surprises for you boy! I think its time for you to see another!" He started charging a Psi blast in his left palm, and I prepared to either dodge or block, depending on the power he had. Then his right hand starting charging some power as well, this energy wasn't blue like everything else had been, it was golden. Normally I didn't care what color it was, except no Psi energy I had used had ever been anything but blue to this point. I sensed that the Psi blast was lower in power than most of them had been, but the other felt like a ki blast.

_Since when did he learn to control that?_ It was still weak on both ends, so I didn't think much of it considering what all he had already done today. The ki in his other palm rose noticeably along with his Psi blast, more than I thought he might be able to do. I felt part of the Psi that he wasn't using adding to the ki blast, much like when I healed someone by using only Psi. I hadn't played around with that much except for when I was training with Gohan, but healing with only Psi energy could regenerate ki as long as I was focused on it enough. This wasn't something I could do to myself though, only to others. Somehow Aldaris had figured out how to do exactly that and thus was making his ki blast stronger by literally changing Psi into ki. Both blasts shimmered in his hands as I sensed what was going on, preparing to dodge or deflect depending on what happened. Then he brought his palms together. _Oh, that._ The energy slowly mixed together and turned teal green shortly before it fired.

_Okay, we're dodging this one._ As he fired it, I thought I sensed his power drop. The energy in his beam also felt lower than it had been, almost as it was ready. I didn't have time to think about that as I leapt into the air and out of the way, only to see his hands shift and the green beam following me, gaining on my trail quickly. I weaved towards the sky before dropping back down, just past the tip of it. He kept its track on me and weaved around, allowing it to gain speed and reach to just within a few feet of me. I phased out just as it should have hit, only to discover his eyes managed to follow me, and I only bought a few seconds of time.

_Damn, and I know he isn't dumb enough to chop himself in half like Frieza did, guess its time to fight fire with fire._ I powered up and sped forward until I had a good quarter mile lead on it. _Time to see if my training has paid off any._ I charged ki with one hand and Psi with the other, bringing them out at the same point just as I stopped and turned, right in line with the beam and Aldaris.

"Final Flash!" The identical beams smashed into each other and ate the ground away in the process. My power drained fast since I wasn't Super Mystic, but I stayed up and kicking, powering more energy into it, hoping his power would deplete faster. So much energy collided that I couldn't tell anyway, and I shut off my beam when I thought I would collapse, so I could get out of the way. It turned out he had shut his off as well, and the power ball sat and floated there for a moment before blowing up and leaving a crater most meteorites would be jealous of. I dropped to one knee, wiped out and panting. I stared across the field at Aldaris and sensed his powers. His energy had also dropped considerably, and it seemed that his low amount of ki was used up, resulting in his very quick exhaustion. Since he had been literally creating ki from Psi, it had gone down as well.

_Not quite what I planned, but the same effect._ His Psi was still considerable, but I felt it had taken a bigger drop than mine had. Both of my energies were down quite a bit, ki a little lower because I hadn't reburied my Psi yet. _Sure would help if I could have mastered that Psi energy before today, though the whole fused energy thing is probably not helping. _I flew forward a little to stare him down a little closer.

"What's wrong old man, a little low on energy?" I mocked what he had said earlier.

"Not low enough to be defeated yet!" he grunted back. I noticed his breath was coming just as hard as mine was at this point. _Awesome, now I just need him to sit still for a few seconds and I got him! _

"I blast you again, and its bye bye you know!" I said with a grin.

"Perhaps, but let's see if you can pull it off before making snap judgments!" he replied, powering up as I did. A sudden rush of Psi energy flooded the air above me. I barely registered it before blue lightning came down and struck through and around me. It hurt horribly, like I was being stabbed, and truthfully I was. I powered up to fight it off, sensing little give as he used his Psi Storm to strike me several times. I grunted and cringed, it hurt even more as I struggled to move. Then I saw some sort of green object fly through the air towards us. I didn't pay much attention to it, and Aldaris didn't even see it. Since he was Protoss and I was Saiyan, I could hear it flying through the air, and feel the air vibrate a bit as well. I don't think he even sensed it in either way since he was so focused on me. It landed on him and exploded, spraying a green mist around him. Then he suddenly dropped and froze, like he was paralyzed. The Psi Storm released right away, smoke plumes came off of my partially infested skin as I relaxed a bit. When the mist cleared, I saw that he was covered in some sort of green slime, a slime I recognized because it was once used on me. _Score two for Kerrigan._ It was Kerrigan's ensnare technique, one that paralyzed its victim temporarily, long enough for one to say, blow their heads off. He struggled with the slime, but barely twitched though his Psi was very erratic.

"Damn you! I should have killed you the moment I saw you all those years ago!" Aldaris managed to say. Kerrigan walked up slightly close, still a good fifteen feet away.

"Well you didn't, foolish Protoss! Good luck getting out of that one. Verto, fire when your ready, you won't get any more phantoms out of him now!"

"_You know, I normally don't like to be helped that much in battle. It's a Saiyan pride thing, but I won't hold it against you!"_ I sent through my thoughts as I started charging another Galic Gun, all ki this time. I fired directly at him as Kerrigan backed off. The beam took a few seconds to get there, and I spotted movement flash in front of Aldaris's fallen body. Some sort of blue light appeared in front of him, and a pair of Zealots appeared. One stood in front of my beam and the other started cutting Aldaris's green net. _Pair of fools._ I sent more power down the beam so Aldaris couldn't get out of the way, I couldn't afford that now. The first Zealot didn't even make the beam deflect, so despite his effort, he got vaporized. The second managed to tear part of the net open, and I felt Aldaris' power surge. My beam suddenly bounced off of his Psi shield just as the other Zealot got fried. I growled as I watched my beam race into the sky and off the planet.

"Luckily I have more help than you, little monkey!"

"You're bound to run out of lucky breaks some time!" I shouted back. _Damn, might have to seriously consider risking a transformation. I don't know if I can make it now that I'm tired, but its crunch time and so far, too little progress._ I then realized that I lost sight of Kerrigan. Worried that I may have fried her as well, I glanced around to find her signature. I didn't feel it anywhere, and Aldaris realized who I was looking for and started laughing loudly.

"Now that's funny! You killed your only source of help trying to beat me!" he laughed. Something appeared behind him, but it looked like just blank air. Then a pair of green arms with Talons on them appeared right around Aldaris and grabbed him into a chokehold. The figure decloaked completely and I saw it was Kerrigan. _Wow, I forgot she could do that._ Her wing like talons started stabbing him at regular intervals, piercing his skin only slightly. Aldaris struggled with her grasp, shouting all kinds of curses as I flew closer.

"Seems you underestimated me again Templar! Now I take your head!" she said as she started pulling and twisting Aldaris by the neck. I heard a pop snap, but found it to be his elbow on her chest. She didn't let go though, if anything she squeezed tighter and stabbed harder.

"Foolish bitch! You still don't understand, do you? Let me show you!" His power erupted again, and lightning surrounded him and shocked Kerrigan. She screamed loudly and let go after a few moments.

"Seems you aren't as great as the captains of our great fleets think. Rather puny if you ask me!" he said. When he stepped after her, I shot a quick ki blast past his face, cutting across his cheek.

"Don't even think about it! You have to beat me first!" I shouted at him with a dark glare.

"You care for this pathetic creature? She follows the Overmind's will. Your power could never belong with their pitiful breed. Kindly allow me to exterminate this abomination so we can continue!" Aldaris suggested. He stepped on her chest harshly and started charging a Psi blast, and I knew I was too far away to stop him.

"No, don't do it!" I urged.

"You really care for this, thing?! Fine I'll spare her if you surrender!" _Damn._

"Don't worry about me Verto, you can beat him, and I can always be revived by the Overmind!" Kerrigan called out.

"You can?" I asked. Even Aldaris looked miffed at this.

"Yes, even you can be. Any Zerg killed can be revived!" The look of sheer horror on Aldaris's face was one to take a photo of, but he quickly recovered.

"But he is only partially infested. I doubt he wants to lose the rest of his free will to that creature, and that I know of you haven't been killed yet. I just may want to try that out!" Aldaris said as he directed his blast towards her again, ready to fire. I weighed the options, none sounded appealing, even if I could stop him from this far away.

"I have been killed before, Aldaris. It was the same day that I defeated you and Tassadar at New Gettysburg on Tarsonis! Finish him Verto, he deserves it after what he did to your friend!" Kerrigan said, catching my attention.

"What did he do, and to who?" I asked in a cold sweat. Aldaris looked surprised that I didn't know, but then shot the wide blast at Kerrigan and vaporized her body. A word hit me just as I felt her energy die.

"Yet another worthless creature gone, the universe is a better place!" The word she sent me replayed a few times in my head before I grasped the full meaning of it.

"_Videl."_

I searched my mind for that connection I had with Videl. That feeling that made me feel somewhat good. That knowing that Videl was alive somewhere and just fine, ready to tease me about something or humiliate me at the drop of a hat. It played second fiddle to what I felt with Fasha, but it was still strong. Nothing but blank spots filled my mind and I didn't find it. When I knew it wasn't there, I lost my resolve and snapped.

**-**

I screamed louder than I thought I could as I grabbed the hidden power that made itself known. I was so pissed off that I thought I would rip my own head off just to feel better. I transformed instantly, and Aldaris' face went cold and numb with fear. I literally thought he turned white along with some of my hair. The added thought of Kerrigan being killed rather ruthlessly didn't help matters. I snarled and took both energies as high as they were going to go. Luckily I had found they were once again fused together and were pretty much stuck that way until I were to power down. I then flew at Aldaris as fast as possible, I couldn't wait to tear him apart. He powered back up as well, not backing down. I sensed his pure Psi power again, noting that it was just as high as my Super Mystic level, but wavering on control.

We engaged in a violent display of fists and kicks, everything hitting and little blocking if any. His blows took more of a toll on me than I thought they would. Mine hurt him more. Once we separated and I calmed down a little more, and realized how quickly my energy was draining. Aldaris wasn't in much better shape, but I guessed I had a few more minutes before I ran out of power. I wasn't sure about him, but his lack of experience seemed to be in my favor. I had been in battle for a long time before I transformed, so I didn't have a lot of power left to run on. That isn't a good thing when you aren't used to a transformation yet. His breathing was coming harder now, a definite sign of getting worn out, but didn't look like he was done yet. I paused in my assault, waiting for him to make the first move. I suddenly sensed a lot of Psi enter the air around me, churning like a coming explosion, but it was mostly invisible with a few violent flashes. I stared at the air above me, where I sensed most of it occurring.

"Hahahaha! Taste your defeat, boy!" he shouted at me with a hand raised. He dropped the hand, and the energy I sensed came down with it. Instantly I felt a lot of pain as blue bolts of lightning struck around and all over me. I wasn't too surprised though, it had worked before. I growled and powered up, spreading my own energy out and pushing his Psi lightning away with my aura. He stopped in surprise when his storm no longer did any damage.

"How?" he managed to ask. His technique had hurt despite being powered up, but it wasn't enough to make me back down.

"C'mon Aldaris, let's see who's got more power right now! All or nothing you fucking pussy!" I challenged as I dropped back to charge his death. He didn't look to be backing down, and started charging his powers into a mixed beam again. His ki rose a bit as he generated more of it with his Psi. As the energy mixed together again, his power took another nosedive as he did it, and this time I caught it. _That was a mistake, his power just went down due to mixed energy! This is my chance,_ I thought as I sensed it. I summoned all of my energy and poured it into the blast.

"Super Galic Gun!" Like before, the two teal green beams smashed into each other and struggled. I quickly started running dry and pulled all power I could find to fire out. I sensed he might have been doing the same, but with barely any pure ki to run on and no Psi to back it up, his beam would fall apart. It only took a few moments before I ran out, and I dropped to the ground as I reverted to normal form. The beam continued until it couldn't anymore, but when I glanced up I saw that it went straight at Aldaris and didn't stop. He dodged aside, but the huge beam ripped an arm and a leg right off him as he was blown away from the explosion. I didn't feel him move much after that, but he was alive.

_I think I understand a little better now, my power is more balanced. Though he might be stronger overall when using only his Psi. Using the power of mixed energies is more of a benefit when the two energies are equal! It helps me more than him because Protoss have a much lower amount of ki. He could generate more ki with his Psi, but it lowered his Psi more. Also helps that he isn't too good at this yet. I need more training, but it's a damn good thing that he didn't show up a week ago. _Above us, the ship came down to land near him. A few soldiers hopped out and picked his non-moving body up on a stretcher. I heard him groan and saw him turn his head my way.

"This isn't over boy, mark my words!" he shouted just before he lost consciousness. _Yeah, count on it!_ I thought back at him just as I fell asleep myself.

**Power levels****:**

**Verto (**_**Mystic-Psi mode**_**): 260,000,000 (**_**unfused energies**_**)**

**Super Galic Gun: 450,000,000; (**_**tired**_**): 210,000,000**

**Super Mystic Verto (**_**tired**_**): 420,000,000 (**_**gradually drops**_**)**

**Final attack on Aldaris: 360,000,000**

**Aldaris (**_**base form**_**): 300,000,000 (**_**all Psi**_**) **

**Super Aldaris (**_**powered up, all Psi**_**): 600,000,000; Mixed Beam: 440,000,000**

**Super Aldaris (**_**weakened**_**): 420,000,000 **

**Final attack against Verto with mixed power: 310,000,000**

**A/N: It's a Draw! Well kind of, Verto is in _slightly_ better shape so I guess you could say he won. How about a Draw…favoring Verto. As to why Aldaris looks to be so much stronger, it is with only his Psi energy. As explained in there, his power drops when he successfully combines both ki and Psi together. The ability to create ki from Psi is a complicated one and will be explained later. Had he not been foolish enough to try it, he more than likely would have won. Another factor is that he is still very new to this fighting style, he learns a lot from his fight with Shugesh, but is still not overly experienced with it. Final thought, or at least an answer to a question from some of you: for Verto's maximum Super Mystic power, take the regular Mystic power times 2. The number for Psi and ki is very much the same for Verto as mentioned, so a Super Mystic transformation doubles his power. I probably won't be breaking down power levels like this very much despite these different energies in use, but for the first few times I will. Psi against ki in a battle is generally no different than any other struggle, it depends on how it is used.**

**Next time on DBV: The Overmind decides to increase Verto's power by fusing him with his commanding Cerebrate. But Verto resists and accidentally locks himself up in his own mind, refusing to cooperate and making an incomplete fusion. By doing this, his mind cracks, and also locks part of his power away. Will Verto get his possessed body back? Stay Tuned.**


	19. Invasion of Body

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 18: Invasion of Body**

I woke up in a dark chamber, painfully. I wasn't sure if it was the body blows or the Psi Storm hits that hurt more, both were rather bad.

"About time you little runt! I thought I would die again before you woke up!" a familiar female voice said. I looked up from the ground to see Kerrigan along the wall...she was grinning about something.

"I thought you died," I said as I sat up. I groaned as I felt a few ribs displace as I arose, I had been fighting too long.

"Didn't you hear me about being revived?" she asked.

"So I died too?" I asked.

"No, just me I'm afraid, but you might feel like you died rather soon," she said, a very present smirk was on her face.

"What's that supposed to mean, and where's that healing chamber thing at? I could use a dip in that, or maybe that nasty meat," I said as my stomach rumbled.

"I'm afraid we have something else on the menu tonight. Though his body should heal first," she said, not directly at me. A large pink eye lit up above me and a booming voice followed, only belonging to the Overmind.

"It is not necessary for the procedure, and it won't matter afterwards since it is so quick," he said.

"What do you mean? What procedure?" I asked.

"You should thank him for what you're about to receive! I don't think it's ever happened before!" Kerrigan said.

"You are to be the embodiment of your commanding Cerebrate, Verto. You and it will unite and become a more powerful being. I have dreamed of the day I would discover a life form that is able to handle a Cerebrate's inner power, and that day has come at last! You will become one of the greatest agents I have ever created!" I suddenly felt my body twitch slightly and saw Zerg attachments growing back again, only much faster this time.

"No, you said I didn't have to be this way! This isn't fair!"

"It will work out, as you will see. Your training has advanced your powers enough to handle it. True, it would be better to wait. But I feel the time is correct. Cerebrate, you may begin," Overmind said. A purple eye off to the side then lit up brightly and dissolved into some sort of blue mist. I struggled to move as the mist came near me, but I felt a clamping sensation on my tail like it had been grabbed and I couldn't move very much.

"Shhhh, it will be over soon! It is your destiny!" Kerrigan said from the side. The way Kerrigan said destiny was kind of strange, but I didn't think about it at the moment. I managed to lean up against wall just as the mist touched my skin. Instantly a bolt of energy struck and then the mist completely surrounded my body. I screamed in agony as I felt the mist lift me into the air and then started invading my pores and openings, getting in everywhere and feeling like it was tearing me apart. I tried to power up to break loose, but the battle had drained so much of my power, and I started having trouble controlling anything at that point. I screamed louder as I sensed the Cerebrate's taint start to flood my mind. I screamed everything I thought at this point.

"_HELP ME! Someone Please Help ME!"_ My view blackened and my body relaxed as I dropped to the ground. I could feel the Cerebrate teasing my mind, weaving in and out as I lost control of myself. It wanted to fuse itself into me, for good. I resisted, I wanted nothing to do with it. I soon lost sight of everything outside and only felt what was happening in my mind. I was trying to use whatever energy I had to resist and get away from him. I felt a surge of Psi, but wasn't sure whether it was from me or not. It subsided as I imagined myself on a black field, running from the same blue mist for a long time. Soon I didn't have to visualize it, it was like I was really there and this was a never-ending bad dream. I continued to run with the mist following, it never seemed to give up the chase. I then saw some sort of stonewall ahead of me, one that stretched for miles. I heard someone on the other side.

"Hey, can I get through here?" I asked as my voice echoed through the black void.

"_You'd have to do it yourself, I can't help you unless you help me!" _a voice answered.

"Who are you anyway? What are you doing in my mind?"I asked.

"_I am you, just a little portion that controls some of your power. Not much really, and it's no use running from that thing. It's going to fuse with you no matter what. You only have so far you can run in your own mind!" _

"Then what can I do?"I asked_. _

"_The you in this part of your mind is split in two, I represent mostly your Saiyan instincts and such, some of your ki as well. You represent our thinking mind and most of the motor controls and our Psi. He can only fuse one part if we are unwilling, and I can tell you that fusing with your Psi power would be very bad for both of us because then he could take control of both and reach the third!"_

"Huh, you're the ki part of me, and who's the third?" this other me was confusing to me.

"_Argh, let me explain!"_ I was suddenly teleported to the other side of the wall, and I heard the blue mist begin pounding on it as it started to crack. Then I turned around to see, me! He had golden hair and eyes like a Super Saiyan. He held up a mirror and I saw that I was in my normal form with Psi running through me, so my eyes were blue.

"Does that clear it up some more?" he asked with some impatience.

"I guess you really are part of me," I said rubbing the back of my head.

"I not only represent your ki power, but some of your more undesirable instincts, most of them being a Saiyan thing," the other me said.

"So you're what brings up my rage and later my power, is that right?" I asked.

He nodded and then pointed to me, "You're the pure of heart side of things, the nicer one, but also more powerful with the Psi energy due to the mystic training. I admit I wasn't exactly pleased when that old fart upgraded us like this, but when you broke the barrier and let me out again. For that I will help you now!" He grabbed my shoulders like we were old pals.

"So, uh, who's the third?" I asked, still confused at this.

"That's us combined, Super Mystic form as we call it. We can summon that great mixed energy, otherwise known as our full soul power, so it works out great. Just like being a Super Saiyan, you're angry at first when you enter the form, but later calm down. There are other things but there isn't time for that. Here's the plan, I will take your place and he will fuse with me thinking it was you. This will allow you to stay here and watch over things with our Psi safely locked up. He won't know how to pull it out because you have that information locked away in you. Now it may take me some time to break free again, this Cerebrate isn't going to be easy to break mentally. So forgive me if anything really bad happens. That's why you'll be able to watch things from here, but don't do anything foolish. If you do anything to catch his attention before I'm able to flush him out, then we're screwed! Trust me okay? Now run!" I listened intently and nodded, running the other way. What he said was just as confusing, as I was still trying to figure out what happened exactly.

I saw the wall get broken and I ducked down behind a hill that somehow appeared there. The mist swallowed the other me and I saw Zerg attachments grow on him. He looked around with a clueless expression for a while and then vanished, leaving me alone. A crystal ball floated down and played what was going on. I saw my body twisting and writhing before relaxing. Then my eyes opened and my body rose. I didn't even feel this happening, but I was able to watch it. The other me-Cerebrate arose and crackled with my ki power. _Well I hope I at least saved some time._ Then it dawned on me what exactly I had done, and I wasn't even sure how I did it. I had separated myself into two, and for now it seemed to have worked. Then I frowned as my stomach growled.

"Damnit, you'd think he would have left some food in here if he's Saiyan like me!"

Interlude 18.1 – Problems -

Verto screamed some more before quieting down and rising. The Overmind blinked a few times and Kerrigan smiled.

"It is done then?" Kerrigan asked.

"Not quite," Zerg-Verto said.

"What's that?" Kerrigan asked in surprise. His voice was dubbed over with the Cerebrate's voice, but then Kerrigan realized something was wrong.

"I sense something, different, about this father," she whispered.

"He managed to split himself in two and locked away his Psionic energy, I can't access it. However the other half cannot break out either, so he really sealed it up for no one to find, and his other half will have to sit on that black plane of nothing forever!" the Overmind laughed slightly.

"But, won't that negate our plans? Weren't we counting on both energies and the possibility of using the mixed soul energy?" Zerg-Verto asked, in the mind set of the Cerebrate.

The Overmind's eye blinked a few times in thought, "Yes, but the raw ki will be sufficient, remember my child that Borgos' power increased greatly and the only one able to destroy him was Verto himself! Not even Gohan was able to pull it off, and his Psi is much lower than Verto's was. This will be a fine arrangement until Verto decides that he wants to try and break free, that will be our moment to strike. Right Verto?" Zerg-Verto grinned and nodded, his face covered in random yellows and greens with a few black stripes that slashed across his face.

"That's just fine with me!" he said, clearly representing a different side.

"Besides my children, Verto is just the bait for the rest of the Super Saiyans. We will concern ourselves with them for now! Verto's full potential can wait!" Kerrigan didn't respond, but deep down she had a very tight grin, _Well, predictably you fell right into our trap, let us hope Cerebrate, that nothing goes wrong!_ She noticed Zerg-Verto narrow his eyes at her and give her a slightly discouraged look, as if something was indeed wrong.

**-**

Elsewhere, on the planet of the Kais, Old Kai and Kibito Kai were watching the crystal ball intently. They had found a way to look into the other dimension by linking with the gods of that dimension. Those gods didn't mind as long as no one interfered with the current train of events, at least anyone from the Other World. While King Kai constantly contacted them for news, they were forced to reply with none just to keep it secretive. They had just witnessed what happened with Verto, Aldaris and the Cerebrate, at least on the outside.

Old Kai seemed very worried now, "Damn, I had a feeling this might happen!"

"But Elder, since Verto was able to lock away his psi power, isn't that a good thing? He can build it up inside his mind and strike when they least expect it right?"

"You're forgetting something youngling, he isn't in control of the body, only the mind! The instant he tries to take it back, the Cerebrate could easily take full control, and then he's really up a creek! He will have to think and wait for another opportunity. Knowing him he will probably not wait for the right instant to play his cards and will rush in rather rashly. In the mean time we will continue to watch. I have a feeling things may turn for the better, despite how bad they look!"

"You certainly go on your gut a lot, ancestor!"

"You expect to go by the book and succeed all the time? Sure worked with Buu didn't it?" Kibito didn't answer that and instead watched as the ball switched views to Tassadar's ship.

"Think they have an idea what just happened?" Kibito asked.

"Probably not, he didn't emit as much energy as before. More than likely they will follow the signature to that barren planet anyway. I just hope Goku and Vegeta can come up with a plan on how to handle this. If they manage to kill him, and the Overmind brings him back fully under, Verto's mind could be out of his own control! I only hope Gohan has progressed enough to stand up to this, it might be our only hope!" The crystal ball then switched to the large Terran fleet getting close to Char.

"Fools, they might have enough fire power to stand up against the Zerg, but Verto will tear apart that fleet in no time now!"

"I thought you said Verto wasn't in control?" Kibito asked. Old Kai promptly fell over.

"No you stupid Kai, of course HE isn't, but you think that the Cerebrate won't take on some of his powers now? You heard that blasted eye, the Cerebrates all have hidden power, so it will likely stack up with Verto's power. Besides what else am I supposed to call him?" Kibito shut up promptly as another ship appeared.

"Who's that?"

"Eh? Must be Aldaris' ship, it looks like a Protoss ship!" Old Kai said, crossing his arms.

"But isn't it going towards Char, not away?"

Old Kai looked closer, "That's odd, he can't be healed that quickly, could he?" Kibito closed his eyes and focused on the ship through the viewing ball, feeling little to no evil intentions from it.

"I wonder who it could be then, because we know it's not the Saiyans. They are several days away, and that's after the human fleet gets there. So who could it be?"

"I don't know Kibito, perhaps help, perhaps not. Possibly a beacon of light that we can follow until it burns out."

**A/N: Next time on DBV: The Terran fleet attacks while the Cerebrate struggles to complete the fusion with Verto. As a result of the violent Saiyan instincts, he loses what control he has and Verto begins to destroy all of the Terrans in a blind bloodthirsty rage. Next time.**


	20. Battle for Char

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 19: Battle for Char**

Zerg-Verto sat in the chamber he had been using as a bedroom, meditating it seemed. Kerrigan watched him closely, trying to connect with his mind like she had with the Cerebrate and Verto separately. Unfortunately there were complications involved now that were not present before. First, Verto had also shut off a great deal of his thinking mind along with his Psi energy, so only his primal instincts and raw ki were really available to the Cerebrate. Secondly, the fusion with only part of Verto made him very hard to read, mostly because he now ran on instinct. The Cerebrate was in some sort of control, she had no doubt of that, but it had been changed drastically as well. She doubted the Overmind had complete control over him anymore, if any. He seemed to be acting on his own accord now, or perhaps was waiting for something before he did anything at all. She felt he might be still trying to access the other part of his mind and spirit, something he had been very unsuccessful in doing. She frowned slightly; it was taking too long to get Verto's attention again. Had he stuck around and not acted so desperately, he would understand everything about the trap she and the Cerebrate had set for the Overmind. She could still feel what was left of Verto through his Psi energy, but he had effectively locked himself up, all of the knowledge of his deeper power stayed with him. The Cerebrate had Psi energy as well, but it seemed that without the other half of Verto fused with it, he could not wield it effectively.

Though she had been reborn, her will to help the Cerebrate and Verto remained, mostly to keep her sharp. The Overmind had apparently found out about her some of her misdeeds lately, but didn't punish her, just reminding her sharply not to do it again. Now she was primarily in charge of watching over Zerg-Verto and making sure nothing went wrong with the so far incomplete fusion. He had found out about the stray Terran, Jim Raynor, but didn't seem to care much. The fact that the human was still alive on Char made him a little curious, but he wasn't a threat whatsoever. Since Cerebrate was now with half of Verto, she suspected the Overmind could not do much to hold him down should he get angry, though he would have been better off he had not split himself off like that. She could barely connect with him as it was. The Overmind had given him general orders and he had followed them promptly and efficiently. As he did she sensed a secret yearning to be free of control. There didn't seem to be any sort of outer influence from the Overmind at the time, so he had done it willingly. While it was still his freewill since he had not died, that factor that the Overmind could kill him at any given time still remained. Every so often while he was meditating, she sensed an argument going on between the Cerebrate and the very Saiyan half of Verto. It was like one would rise up against the other in a temporary struggle. While nothing really happened during this, at times he would mutter to himself about being free again. It was at these times that the Cerebrate part of him would slowly start to recede, but came back quickly whenever she sensed the Overmind's eye watching them.

_It seems young Verto was far more resourceful about separating himself than we thought. A great asset yes, but very bad timing, _she sighed with this thought. Lastly, well most of it all tied in anyway, but Zerg-Verto was simply not letting her in. She didn't know if it was her actions that dictated that, or if the Overmind was watching. It might have been her new theory about the Cerebrate slowly withdrawing itself from his system, or at least to the deep reaches of his mind. Verto, or at least most of him may have in fact returned to an extent, and perhaps the Cerebrate was only keeping a distance, she wasn't really sure now that she couldn't connect. It was almost as if the Saiyan and Cerebrate were switching off on who was running the show, like a split personality.

She had something else to concern herself with though. Since the Cerebrate merged with Verto, control of their brood became erratic at best, and control was handed over to Kerrigan instead. And ever since they detected that large Terran fleet heading for Char, well they had other things to worry about for the time being. Being in charge of their brood, Kerrigan elected to remain in the deep hive cluster for better protection. If their brood went out of control during the battle, well she wasn't sure if she would be revived again. The Terrans had not attacked yet, but had slowly started surrounding the planet with their capitol ships and began landing a lot of troops, tens of thousands. She sighed again slightly, it seemed Duke was intent on wiping them out this time, how foolish he was.

While both sides were going to incur very heavy losses in this battle, the Zerg would win because there was no known way to kill the Overmind. It had been tried before, several times, she knew. It first occurred many years before she even knew of the Zerg, before she was even born. The memory was shared by the Overmind recently, more like a warning to herself and Verto primarily, after he was fused with the Cerebrate. It first showed countless Protoss troops that had wiped out his broods and had him pinned down on the planet they were in. They hit the Overmind with everything they had, from zealots to suicide bombers, nothing worked, it would still regenerate. They were overrun when he started using his powers to revive all of the slain Zerg over the planet they were on. The next time she remembered a little more recent, for she was involved in a battle on the other side. The Terran troops had gotten lucky and broken through to the Overmind. They also hit it with everything they had, including an ion cannon. That had been before she was infested. The result had been the same, but most of the Terran troops were able to escape before things got really hairy. The most recent try was by Broly. He was so powerful that she thought he was finished for sure. Obviously that didn't work out either. Whatever the Overmind's essence was, it could stand up to anything it seemed. _No, there has to be a way, but unfortunately I won't be the one to know it. _

Verto's eyes suddenly snapped open just as her Overlords detected a Terran ship, two actually.

"You felt it too?" she asked.

"Correct, it seems the leaders of this little bunch have come to survey the situation. You could send some Zerg out to kill them all, but I'd much rather do it myself. I've been aching for a fight ever since taking this form," he said.

"It's because of a Saiyan's will to fight, they love battle. Since you seemed to have fused with mostly the body and not the mind, his instincts must have passed down," she explained.

"Yes, of course! Let's go!" As they walked out of the tiny chamber in their hive cluster, Kerrigan scanned for any current outside telepathic contact with herself or Verto from the Overmind. Finding none, she determined that she could let down her guard momentarily.

"Can't you find him yet?" she whispered.

"Sorry, but his aggressive side helped in blocking him off, and he's been disrupting me every time I get close. It's making me concentrate way too much in trying to contact him. These fighting urges are not helping matters," Zerg-Verto said.

"Okay, I'll assist you after this fleet is taken care of. Hopefully they get a good shot off on you-know-who so he has to hibernate for a day or two. But we must hurry, that mind in there is not going to stand up to this kind of separation for long and who knows what may happen if it begins to break down!" Kerrigan explained hastily as they emerged from the hive cluster.

"I sense the Saiyan side about to switch over again. I cannot hold him off without rest," Zerg-Verto said. Kerrigan nodded as the facial expression and eyes seemed to flinch before turning darker. He didn't say anything, just followed her onto the Overlord for transport.

-

"We shouldn't be down here without protection Arcturus! These Zerg could be anywhere!" Duke said as a marine next to him glanced around.

"You may go back if you wish, that is why I ordered two transport ships down here. I on the other hand await her arrival. I am very sure she is here and will come out to meet with me without conflict! You watch!" he said, sounding almost cocky to the general.

"Well, I do have a battle for a planet to attend to. It's best we don't have some ignorant officer up there in charge like now. Commander, take me back up to the Norad Three. Leave an appropriate garrison for the emperor!"

"Yes sir!" As the general departed, Mengsk spotted an Overlord coming their way.

"Should we shoot it down, sir?" the marine captain asked.

"Not yet son, there is plenty of time for that. I think she's onboard anyway!" Mengsk was right, for Kerrigan and Verto hopped out when the Overlord landed.

"Well well, fancy meeting you here Sarah, ready to come home now?" Mengsk asked with semi-opened arms.

"Finally managed to gain your iron hand over the humans of this sector eh Mengsk? Enjoy it while it lasts!" Kerrigan snapped in reply.

"Oh come now Sarah, still sore about New Gettysburg?" Kerrigan flinched slightly, but only because she knew what he was bringing up.

"I should kill you where you stand for that, you practically fed me to the Zerg, Arcturus! All because you were afraid the Confederates would escape. What threat did they even pose at that point? If anything the Protoss would have finished them off, you didn't have any plans for Tarsonis anyway!" she shouted at him.

"True, but I do regret leaving you down there that day. You must realize I didn't have any choice, nor did I have any time to rescue your team anyway. I will gladly invite you back to the empire now that I know you're alive. We can cure you of your infestation. We've done it before with others!" Mengsk boasted.

"You sound pretty sure of yourself. There's only one problem with that, you can't! I can thank the Amerigo scientists for that, before I slaughtered them of course," Kerrigan grinned at the memory.

"Our science improved a great deal since that fateful day, we can return you to your normal human state!" he said with a bright smile.

"What if I don't want to go back Mengsk, did you even consider that?" she asked smugly.

Mengsk looked shocked, "Why would you want that Sarah?"

"Go back to living that joke of a life under your order? Go back to that sick grin you got on your face whenever you had a plan to involve yourself in someone's life? Go back to nothing but your control? No thanks, believe it or not the Zerg have given me a better destiny then that!"

Verto then stepped up, "I don't know what you two have issues with, frankly I don't really care. I came out here for a fight, so either bring on your fleet or fight me yourself!"

Kerrigan stared hard at Verto now, S_ince he switched over again, his memory of this seems incomplete. There is definitely a struggle going on internally, I recall telling him of this even before we met up with Raynor. The Cerebrate's will to control him is wavering worse than I thought. Damnit, this is not what I need now. The only thing driving the body is his instinct to battle!_

"Oh please boy, your wish to battle will come sooner or later, but you could not hope to defeat my entire fleet!" Mengsk boasted. Verto grinned, a sick and very Saiyan grin that Kerrigan hadn't seen on anyone before. Just as he did she sensed the Overmind's influence on his hormones again, and his adrenaline level skyrocketed. Then Verto powered up and took flight. Just as he went air-born, golden hues and lightning surrounded him before his hair changed to blond and his eyes turned green.

Kerrigan frowned, _Oh great, this is just what I didn't need! He's like a miniature Broly now!_ They soon lost sight of him, until the shockwaves began.

"Report!" Mengsk shouted to his marine captain.

"The fleet has engaged the boy in the upper atmosphere, above the clouds so we can't see it. They're saying he's moving so fast that our laser cannons can't hit him, just like on Tarsonis!" Kerrigan reached out with her senses and picked up Verto, noting he was not using any of his Psi. His ki power had been upgraded much when he was imbued and fully infested, but she expected the Terran ships to at least make an impact. She sensed his burning rage and guessed that he must have been at the level his friends referred to as Super Saiyan two. Then they spotted small amounts of debris falling from the sky, most of it burning up.

"Give me the holographic layout of Char!" Mengsk ordered. Kerrigan was compelled to act now, but instead watched from afar while most of the marines' guns were locked on her at the moment. The holo display rang up what she had been sensing. While there were many strung out battles now occurring across the planet, wherever Verto was, the Terrans were losing at an incredible rate. This was represented by a large purple dot on the display, mowing right over the green dots being their fleets.

Kerrigan sensed Verto move around half of the planet over the next few hours, doing the same to any that challenged him. Many Zerg got caught in the cross fire, and she sensed he didn't even regard them as allies and was now blasting them as well. _He is erratic and confused; his upper mind should break through soon once the Overmind can't order him. He just needs the right moment!_ It soon came when she felt the Overmind calling to her.

"_Kerrigan, the boy is weaving in and out of control. Do what you can to control him like you can the Cerebrate!_"

She was somewhat surprised that he knew about that, but it was too late now, "_I am sorry Father, I can't. Ever since you fused them together I haven't been able to maintain any sort of telepathic contact, he has effectively blocked me off!"_

"_Curses, I'll have to think of something else then! I cannot maintain control because the Cerebrate was supposed be fused with Verto as a whole._ W_ith only half fused, I cannot access the boy's mind or block off the Saiyan instincts. I was hoping that the mind would wear out quickly but it hasn't. Do your best to contact Verto within himself and lure him out. If you can do so soon then the I should be able to get into his mind again and free him."_

Kerrigan gasped as the Overmind looked away again, he had made a critical error three times in the same action. First he underestimated Verto's mind, and that allowed him to split himself in desperation. He had told her himself that he had been erecting some sort control from the outside and was partially responsible for Verto's mind separation even though the boy did most of it himself. And he also underestimated her and the Cerebrate, thinking he was in total control now and they would obey him. To Kerrigan, the reason the Cerebrate couldn't contact Verto inside of himself was because of the Overmind. He had set a trap that was taking too long, and if Verto saw the fake window and took it, all might be lost. On top of all that, the Overmind said something about freeing him, but Kerrigan doubted that meant anything like it sounded. _Damn, he must have some sort of mind control agent in Verto's blood, or some other way to subdue him. Shit, this may not work like we hoped! _She was going to try to contact him now, but for the opposite reason.

"_Verto, can you hear me, VERTO!"_ she called out with her mind.

"_Kerrigan, how'd you get up here?" _

"_Shut up wench, I'm busy right now! Try again later!" _

"_Kerrigan, he's not cooperating!"_

She blinked in confusion; she heard three responses with the same voice, and three different opinions. The first one was the one she was looking for, the next was the Saiyan part of him, and the final was the Cerebrate. She knew then that the Cerebrate probably wasn't coming back into a physical form, but it knew the risks in this fusion and it would be all right that way. She felt that maybe she could buy a little time so the Overmind couldn't gain full control.

"_You three, don't take the chance! It's a trap!"_ Since the Overmind might be watching, she gambled with that message.

"Fire the ion cannon on the Overmind now!" Mengsk shouted into some sort of com link.

Kerrigan sighed, _This is it!_


	21. Releasing the Darkness

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 20: Releasing the Darkness**

I blinked a few times when I heard the message. I hadn't been watching the crystal ball that had been flashing a lot lately, I was mostly meditating. Since I was locked in my own mind, it was very easy to focus. Nothing else was up there. I found that when I played around a little with my Psi energy, the Cerebrate started to waver its control. I didn't really understand what I was trying to do; in actuality I was basically wishing for the thing to leave and generating Psi at the same time. That seemed to really agitate the Cerebrate to the point where he began to switch off between himself and my Saiyan side. Whenever it was in charge, it seemed to be looking for me most of the time, but I never saw the blue mist again. I kept up my efforts and began to see a definite change in the Saiyan when he started blowing up Zerg as well as Terran ships. The other part of me was putting on a good show by wiping out the Terran fleet. The Saiyan fighting instincts went on full and the Cerebrate could not control them at all. That and he was up at Super Saiyan two, a form I didn't think I could achieve since I was a tad different now. However, my ki was high enough and separate from my Psi for the moment, so I suppose it was possible.

Though something about my other half didn't click with what the Cerebrate was doing, or trying to do. Whenever I had the Cerebrate down a little, my other half actually responded quicker to the Overmind's orders than the Cerebrate did. It was something I didn't quite understand, but perhaps it was part of his plan. He had contacted me of when to start trying some more during the battle while the Cerebrate was focused on it, and it had paid off. I wasn't too happy with the fact that the Saiyan half was still destroying things, but that sure did beat the latter result. Odds are I would have had to destroy the Terran fleet anyway, just like before. But when I got that message from Kerrigan, I stopped concentrating on wearing down the Cerebrate. Something about it rang warning bells in my head, or in this case around me.

"_You about done up there, the damn Cerebrate has vanished! He's not with me anymore!"_ the other me called out through my thoughts.

"_Hey are you sure this is going to work? What if they prepared for us to try something like this?"_ I asked myself, literally.

"_You got a better idea? If you do then spit it out, after all that's about all you can do up there is think. I'm the one doing all the work out here!"_ He had a point.

_Man arguing with yourself sure is strange sometimes._ I suddenly sensed a powerful force aiming down on the Overmind, where we had come up to just as it was beginning to come clear.

"_It's that really big beam cannon they have! Maybe it'll make a dent!_" the other me said. I watched the crystal ball as the huge beam impacted the Overmind's large form just as the light from it blinded me. When the light and smoke cleared, the Overmind was barely there at all, in fact there seemed to be nearly nothing left!

"_All right, there's our chance! Wait for them to fire again and come on out. I'll land so I can concentrate better!"_

"_Gotcha!"_ I thought back. I raced towards the wall and prepared to crack it open. I felt the other me appear on the other side, no sign of any other presence was here. I sensed the Overmind get zapped again, and cracked open the wall right away with a minor surge of Psi energy.

The other me was standing there, looking impatient, "About time!"

"Hey, I was just waiting for the moment like you told me to!" I said back.

"Oh well, ready to fuse again? I'm sure you're getting tired of staying up here!"

"Well yeah, how exactly are we going to do that anyway?"

"Duh, fusion dance!"

"I thought you were the part of me that didn't want to do that silly pose?"

"You know a better way?" I gave in, plus arguing with myself all the way wasn't going to accomplish anything. I stepped sideways and raised my arms even with his.

"Just tell me we won't ever have to do this for real, it looks ridiculous enough!" I said.

"Look at it this way, at least no one can see it and we can't screw it up!" he pointed out.

"Good point!"

"_FU-SION, HA!_" we shouted in sync. The bright light flooded our vision, and when it cleared I felt I was still in my normal state, but I was ready to rock. But then I noticed something odd. We had fused back into one alright, and no part of the Cerebrate was present. But we were still in the upper part of my mind on the black field of nothing, though that gray wall was gone.

"Maybe I should think on how I was supposed to get out," I said.

"No need. I will provide that!" I spun to see a familiar blue mist in front of me. Tentacles spun out of it and grabbed my limbs before I could move. I tried to overpower them, but since I was in my mind, my physical strength had no bearing. I powered up to get away, but that seemed to hasten the mist into closing on me. Then it got into my every opening and pore just like before, and this time I had nowhere to run to. I felt it joining with me everywhere, and I knew now I couldn't stop it. Kerrigan had been right, it was a trap.

"_Damnit, I should have listened, but it was our best shot! Sorry Kerrigan, I can't do anything else!"_ I thought towards her before the Cerebrate took over completely. A whole new flood of thought and memory flooded open to me then as the Cerebrate joined with me. It didn't seem quite as vile as I thought at first, actually the Cerebrate didn't feel that evil at all really. We, or I landed, but I was still on the black plane. A bright white and yellowish flash went off in the area around me, but I wasn't sure where it came from, and it was gone rather quickly.

"_Verto, why are we still here, and what was that just now?"_ it asked me. I glanced around before realizing the Cerebrate was the one that asked me, and it had been telepathic.

"You're asking me? How should I know?" I asked aloud. _This is odd, I thought that it was going to control me completely; instead it's like another voice in my head! _I thought without realizing it probably heard me.

"_What? You expected me to be able to handle all of that power without your help? This is part of Kerrigan's plan, The Overmind had this idea also, but he didn't know about my secret purpose. Since the Overmind cannot directly control me anymore, we can together take him down. My being here was for a different reason and this isn't quite it. Sorry about all of the deception," _Cerebrate said, sounding a lot like me now, and being completely honest as far as I could tell.

"_Believe me I didn't have a clue, I can definitely feel some of your power added to mine. My energies feel exactly balanced, awesome! What's this secret purpose about anyway?" _I replied to the other voice in my head.

"_Verto, what is that over there?"_ it asked, ignoring my question. I glanced over to where it had pointed out, or in this case where my eyes just happened to glance at.

"_Heh, don't worry, you'll think a little better on your own soon, though might take some getting used to! Your mind isn't used to a higher level of thinking just yet, it will get there." _

"_No shit, to answer your question. It looks like some sort of locked door,"_ I replied as I walked up to a door that had chains wrapped around it.

"_I don't have a good feeling about this Verto, I really don't think you should get near that door,"_ Cerebrate said in caution.

"You have a point, there's probably a reason it has chains around it," I said.

"_**Help me**__!"_ I heard from the door as soon as I turned around.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"_Good question,"_ Cerebrate replied.

"_**Please help me, I've been locked in here for a very long time, alone and suffering!**__"_

"Who are you?" I called out, not getting an answer from the door, but I could sense there was something mysterious behind it.

"_**Just please unlock the door and let me out. It's so dark and cold in here, I'm afraid!**__"_ the new voice said, choking slightly.

"Why is there something in my mind that is chained up and fearful? Maybe it's a more timid emotion or something, you have any idea?_"_ I asked.

"_I don't think you should be rash in finding out. It may not be something you want to deal with,"_ Cerebrate warned again.

I shook my head, "I can't abandon those in need of help, even if it is in the recesses of my own mind. What if I ever needed their help?" I asked back. He didn't answer, so I started breaking off the chains.

"I wonder what's inside," I said, breaking the chains off and opening the door. I saw nothing but blackness inside.

"You know, I'd ask why there is a door up here anyway, but I don't really want to know. Where'd that voice go," I said, the Cerebrate wondered as well. Then I heard some sort of laughter coming from the door. A bright light went off again and a saw someone standing there. It was a blackened figure, looked about as tall as me, with a tail and spiky hair like me as well. But then I saw eyes that were glowing red and nothing but evil came from them.

"Finally, I'm free!" it said. _Why do I get the feeling I made a horrible mistake? _Then a whole world of pain was introduced to my head as it rushed forward and caught me across the jaw.

"Who the hell are you?" I shouted, flipping up and into a stance.

"I am what should have happened with all the power you have. Damn that half Saiyan twit, and that fucking old bastard as well for putting me here!" he said.

"What are you talking about? I've never seen you before!" I said. The figure stepped closer and somehow his blackened skin lit up.

"You sure about that?" it said as I gasped at the figure's appearance. It was me, everything about him was me, eyes, tail, hair, nose, and sadly, power level. I scanned his energy, finding that he had both energies to use as well, only it was dripping with evil.

"I guess you could say that I am your dark side. It may not be quite accurate, but your negative feelings feed me. I can't quite remember how this happened, but I know that Old Kai locked me up. He wouldn't have kept me in though, and thanks to the youth wish I am stronger than ever. Add to that, the overgrown lurch has decided that I would be best suited to take your place!"

"You're not going anywhere but back in that room!" I declared, dropping into a stance. That oddly bright flash went off again and I felt the Cerebrate stirring again. Somehow the blue mist arose from my body, quickly backing off from the new comer that resembled me.

"What the, how'd we un-fuse?" I asked it as I noticed my power level drop just slightly.

"I do not know!" it answered as the mist backed away quickly. The evil me went after it and it tried to run.

"Hey where are you going?" I shouted after both of them.

"You must not let him take me, Verto!" the mist said through the air as the evil flew after it. _Well, good point there._ I flew after both of them, catching the Saiyan first. I punched at his head, but he only smirked and ducked down, catching me way low where no one wants to be hit. I dropped in severe pain, and he sped forward. I spat what had been in my mouth and charged a Kamehameha just for him as the mist had turned enough of a circle to head back my way, Saiyan in tow.

"I don't care what you are or how you came to be, no evil presence will take over my body! Now get out, HAAAA!!!!" My blue beam shot past the mist and right into the Saiyan. I don't know why I intentionally missed the Cerebrate, I just wanted the other one dead for good. He said he was my dark side and I could sense that he couldn't have been far off, he was everything that I wasn't and worse. The smoke from my blast cleared quickly, and my face fell as I saw he was still there. He smirked sharply, and started powering up. I wasn't sure how the breeze got there, but his power blew me back a little ways. Then what I thought was impossible happened, he transformed into Super Mystic right there. The silver hair and blue eyes were a dead ringer, only there were dark lines around the eyes, showing all the evil he was made of. I didn't recall seeing him move before several hard blows occurred, several to my head, most to my chest and stomach. I coughed up some blood somehow and dropped to my hands and knees. I didn't even see the boot that knocked me out.

"Now then, Cerebrate, we have some business to attend to…" I heard him say. _What have I done?_

Interlude 20.1: Evil Verto

Kerrigan sighed again as she felt Verto lose his body for good this time. She felt the Overmind's influence over him increase by several times before settling down. The next ion beam that was shot down was returned upon by Zerg-Verto's Super Galic Gun. It took a minute or two, but he eventually overpowered the ion cannon. She then sensed him move his beam over the space fleet and an extensive amount of Terran lives suddenly vanished. The static over Mengsk's radio confirmed it.

"The boy has destroyed most of our fleet Arcturus, you must evacuate before he comes back to your position!" Duke announced over the radio.

"Roger that general. I had no idea that the boy was this powerful! Sarah, you coming?" he asked sweetly. Kerrigan however knew that since Verto was back under control, she had better behave now as well.

"Sorry Mengsk, I'm afraid I can't let you go. Not without dying anyway!" The marines opened fire right away. She cloaked herself before they got a shot off and dashed in, slashing them all apart in no time, despite their armors. Mengsk gasped as this happened just as Kerrigan reappeared. The drop ship above them was still hovering, until Kerrigan focused her Psi around it and blew the thing apart with her Psi storm. Blood splattered everywhere as a few of its occupants were struck, and it landed on both Mengsk and Kerrigan. She grinned slightly, licking some of it off her cheek.

Mengsk backed up, "Oh my god, what kind of monster did that thing create? Please don't kill me!" He got on his knees and begged, almost kissing her feet. She frowned in disgust, she hated beggars.

"You know Mengsk, I could infest you and then kill you. Then the Overmind could revive you as much as I wanted just so I could kill you over and over! But that will quickly grow old and it's a waste of energy. So I think I'll settle on taking your head and play darts with it in my hive. Darts always was your favorite game wasn't it?" Mengsk gasped by her sudden cruelty, but managed to nod.

"It's settled then!" she said, swiping at his head. A line of red formed around his neck as he managed to open his mouth wide in shock. Then the head fell straight off as the body collapsed. She didn't take the head with her, but she did feel a certain amount of satisfaction. _Now, I guess I must wait for the backup plan to arrive, I just hope they brought her with._

-

"Oh no, I knew it! I shouldn't have released those powers! I fear I may have tampered with the fate of both dimensions and released a horrible evil upon it!" Old Kai whined as he and Kibito watched what happened.

"But sir, how could the Cerebrate do that to him? A fusion between the two surely wouldn't have turned him into that!" Kibito claimed.

"Verto was smart to separate himself like that, even by accident. The Saiyan in him could not be completely controlled without the mind. Slowly the Cerebrate lost control, and then something happened. Vegeta and the others will have to find a way to kill the Overmind first before Verto. Otherwise he could be revived again as this evil entity!"

"I don't think I quite get it elder? Who or what is that?" Kibito asked.

"Let's just say I took a per-caution and it may have backfired. Figure it out for yourself young Kai, just make sure that any of our friends that die in that dimension are sent to King Yemma on this side. Those overseers will understand that since it won't be interference with anything!"

"Uh, yes sir, right away!" Kibitoshin said, teleporting out.

Old Kai sat in slight meditation, thinking about the events of the past few months up until now over. _Something else occurred while Verto was struggling with the Cerebrate. Had I been able to see into his mind, I might know what it was. Whatever it was, it happened after the complete fusion occurred. If it really was the safety net I put in there, I may have made an incredibly terrible mistake. Oh the things I do just for the promise of a little nookie!_

-

Back on Char, the Overmind was giving a few congratulatory remarks to Zerg-Verto on his so-called complete infestation. Kerrigan was with him in their hive cluster while the Overmind maintained most communication by telepathy. Noteworthy things occurred that she paid attention to. First off, the Overmind referred to him as Verto, not as the Cerebrate. Kerrigan noticed that he played along to that perfectly, and the Overmind's link to the body had been drastically reduced, or so she sensed. He still had the capacity to order him around, but without that strong link, it wasn't by much. She doubted that the Overmind could do much other than slow him down should he get out of control now. She felt that the Overmind might have known that as well, but didn't appear to pay much heed to the fact. _That was a mistake,_ she managed to think by herself while the other two were laughing a little with the other Cerebrates about their dominant victory over the Terrans. The Terran fleet had been decimated, and only a few ships got away. The Overmind then declared that since Verto was now one of them, they could release some of the Zerg to spread out more over the planet. _Another mistake, maybe._

"_But great father, what if the Saiyans did come after our friend here? They are quite powerful!_" Zasz asked.

"_There is little to be concerned with, the only concern is that fusion technique of theirs, even with all of this power at my disposal. An overwhelming amount power like that of a Goku and Vegeta fusion would cause a few problems, and that is not limited to just them. However as long as that doesn't happen very much, it shouldn't be a huge concern as their ki power alone cannot defeat the Overmind!_" Zerg-Verto said. Kerrigan nearly choked when she heard that. She had the answer to kill the Overmind, ki and psi combined, or at least that's what she believed, and only three beings knew how to do that. She kept quiet about it though, she knew the Overmind would sense her thoughts if she focused on them too much.

Later when she was by herself, she recounted how many mistakes the Overmind and, well whatever was now in control of Verto, made. They had just made many mistakes because of their combined arrogance. She smiled though, she now knew Gohan had a shot, but it was very slim, his energies were not as aligned as Verto's. While he commanded a higher amount of ki like most of the warriors, Verto had just as much Psi to balance his powers out. The only reason he had so much less ki now was because of that wish to the dragon.

_No matter, he would have discovered his true power eventually, its just faster now. His friends better get here quickly!_ She took notice of something else as well; the Cerebrate-Verto was acting very, odd. She had been noticing this the entire time, yet the others didn't seem to pay any heed. It wasn't talking, thinking, or behaving like a Cerebrate waiting for orders. It was acting like an evil Saiyan, as best she could figure anyway. It had acted like that before, when it was just fused with his Saiyan side, but now there seemed to be a different being in control. She scanned his mind very briefly so he wouldn't notice, only to get a bit of a shock to sense what she felt in there, and she quickly disconnected before he noticed. She sensed the Cerebrate was hardly even there, if at all. Neither was Verto himself, she still felt that gentle presence in there somewhere, but it wouldn't respond and didn't feel active. She felt a third presence, eerily similar to what she was staring at now, it felt very evil.

_That doesn't make sense, I should be sensing either Verto or the Cerebrate in control, or both combined. I don't sense either one. But if this isn't one of them, who is it? And how can, whoever that is, control all of Verto's powers? _

Out of the corner of her senses, she picked up on something arriving on Char. A ship with high Psionic emitions, it vanished the instant she sought it out. _Aldaris? No way it could be him already, not by himself after what Verto did to him before. And that would be suicide coming back now, Verto could wipe him out easily now that the Cerebrate's inner power has been added._ _It feels like more Protoss, but I can't be sure, they've never hidden themselves this well from me before!_

She detected another surge of Psi drop from hyperspace shortly after, much lower in signal but in a more numerous amount. _That's definitely a Protoss fleet._ She expected a message to investigate shortly, but fell asleep waiting for it, because it never came.

-

"_Help ME, Someone Please Help Me!"_ Fasha was woken from her sleep by that thought alone. She sat in bed, sweating for a few minutes, wondering what that meant for the future. It was the second night in a row that she had heard that message, and it disturbed her greatly. Even if she was going to be parted from Verto permanently as soon as they found him, it still bothered her. She sighed and dressed, heading for the mess hall. There, the other Saiyans were busy gorging food like usual, except they were going much slower, grim looks on their faces.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Fasha asked. No one said anything right away, except for Goku asking the Protoss attendant if they had any pepper.

Vegeta spoke up pretty quickly though, "We felt a powerful ki surge last night, coming from Char. And the day before, Tassadar recorded two Psionic signatures battling on Char. Both dropped to nothing shortly before Aldaris' ship departed, that is all we know."

"That isn't all, last night during meditation, I picked up a telepathic message. It was faint, but I'm sure it came from Verto, he was calling for help!" Gohan said, looking even grimmer.

"It's still another six days to Char, unless you want to try for Instant Transmission Kakarot?" Vegeta asked sternly.

Goku shook his head, "We don't truly know what we will be up against once there, and unlike on Earth, we won't have anywhere to fall back to if need be. While I could sense that high power level just fine from here, if it's moving around a lot I may not be able to get a lock on him anyway. Very few Saiyans leave behind a strong enough energy trail, except Broly that is. The only reason I felt his before was because I was at Grand Kai's place and he had just left the planet he had destroyed that day. Not only that, but the Zerg signals around him will blur it up!" Everyone starred slightly at Goku, who somehow had all the facts together when the stars and planets lined up.

"What's wrong guys, you look like I've said something wrong?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Just surprised, that's all Dad. You better tell Tassadar to get best possible speed to Char if were going to make it in time!" Gohan suggested.

Vegeta nodded at this, "Keep your senses active for the next few days Kakarot. If you get a clear enough signal, we will go for it right away. It's a risk, but it may win the day! We should pick up that signal at least a little very soon, that inferior human battle fleet should be arriving any day now!"

"Actually they just arrived and are currently setting up for an assault on the planet," Tassadar said from the door. Everyone proceeded to the bridge to watch the latest scans. Nothing really happened for the first couple of hours, other than picking up general troop movements and fussy transmissions. Goku suddenly felt a large ki erupt just as the Terran fleet began the attack.

"I sense Verto guys, but his signal seems distorted. It's not from the Zerg being around, it's coming from him!"

"Damn, that means…" Fasha started before falling silent.

"That probably means the worst, however I have faith that he can break the Overmind's control. I trained him to resist such things, and the Namek helped a little as well with his mental abilities, he will not give in!" Vegeta boasted. Just as he finished his phrase, the ship shook slightly from a shockwave.

"What was that?" just about everyone asked at once.

"It appears to be another large Psionic signature on the surface, I believe it's coming from the boy since it's moving around rapidly. The Terrans on the surface are getting wiped out very quickly. Analyzing what could have happened to affect us way out here. Ah, it appears the Terrans fired their ion cannon on the boy, and he fired back as best I can guess by the gauge reading, it more than likely produced that shockwave," Krator said from his station.

"What's the status of their ion cannon? Is it functional enough to take out the Overmind, or at least damage it?" Tassadar asked.

"No, it's been completely destroyed. However I think that the Terrans were thinking the same thing. It now appears that they targeted the Overmind, but the boy intervened and fired back. These readings are still too early to tell, and a lot of their transmissions are garbled. One thing is for sure, the Dominion's battle fleet is losing its battle with the Zerg because of young Verto, infested or not!" Krator said in boldness. Suddenly all of the Saiyans' senses perked up to the energy signature in the area.

"That feels like Verto, but his ki feels so big and, so evil!" Goku said, almost trembling.

Gohan narrowed his eyes, "No dad that is mixed energy, he transformed! But you're right, he feels evil!"

"Then our chances of success are dipping quickly. The more time we waste getting there, the lower they get. Best speed to Planet Char!" Vegeta barked.

**A/n: This is the end of Part 1: Infestation. Probably not the kind of events that you might expect. Believe me, more crazy things will be happening in Part 2: Confrontation, which starts next chapter!**

**Now that I have that out of the way… Next Time on DBV: Kerrigan discovers a new Protoss force on the surface of Char and sends her Brood after it. While she is distracted, a new weapon is used against a different Brood and it is sent spiraling out of control.**


	22. Diversion

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Part 2: Confrontations **

**Theme Song: 'Let's Do This Now' by Korn**

**This will generally follow the Zerg and Protoss storylines in SC, but of course differently.**

**Note, a lot of this will be third person early on, as Verto, the real Verto, is not in control of himself. I shall primarily address this Evil Verto as Zerg-Verto as I have been, but I may not always put it in there, mostly a few times just as a reminder of who we are dealing with. You will definitely see the development of this Character and how he came to be as we go along. Most of the story right now will be focused on wherever Zerg-Verto is and whom he is dealing with. Some of these next few chapters may get a little confusing, if so and you need an explanation, just review/email and I'll respond with the best possible explanation without spoiling anything.**

**P.S. This will be the more action filled Part of Series 5, and definitely more popular with quite a few plot twists and unexpected characters stepping onto the scene.**

**Chapter 21: Diversion**

'**Do you feel that Cerebrate, or would you prefer to be called Verto**?' Kerrigan asked the next morning.

He seemed indifferent about her speaking to him at all, 'Either will suffice, however the Cerebrate does not call the shots here. What is it?'

'The Protoss are here, somewhere. Hiding from us!'

Zerg-Verto grinned slightly, 'Good, I wanted some target practice.' Kerrigan played with a small pod in front of her, reaching with it and beckoning the response she wished to receive. She got one, and a young looking Templar's face appeared on the pod's TV like screen. His head was a dull green with a blue cloak draped around his neck, so he was obviously a higher figure.

'Protoss commander, you really shouldn't have come to Char! You shall know me as Kerrigan, Queen of the Zerg!'

'Oh yes, I recall you oh Queen of the Zerg, for we met before on Tarsonis. Such a pity it is that such a bright being would turn to the shadowy wiles of the Overmind. You will know me as Praetor Artanis of the Templar!' he said.

'I fought you on Tarsonis eh, that doesn't seem that likely since I defeated the Protoss at New Gettysburg before becoming the queen of the Zerg. Since then my powers have surpassed anything you Templar could conjure up, in fact I sense that your powers may have decreased since last we met!'

'Mayhap oh Queen, or is it that I need not flaunt my powers in such a infantile test of will?' Artanis fired back.

'Foolish Templar! You may want to prepare whatever pathetic defenses you can. I will come for you very soon!' she finished by cutting the connection, watching as the pod returned to normal.

'Perhaps I should sit this one out, after all it looks like you could use some experience,' Zerg-Verto chuckled slightly. Kerrigan scowled as she once again sensed some of the evil flowing off him, _My Cerebrate never felt that evil._

'Come along then, you shall witness my brood wipe them all out quicker than you can by yourself!' She boasted. She knew of course that probably wasn't the case, but if she could gather enough troops in time, she would be very effective.

'Sure, I'll just have to hold them all off while you're struggling to survive!' he mocked again.

**Kerrigan set up her new base a few miles away** from the Protoss encampment. She had brought a large squadron of Zerg troops with her instead of just pooling resources to spawn them at the base, intent on showing Zerg-Verto what she could do in the right position, plus it would save her some time.

'_Kerrigan, this is Zasz, perhaps you should hold off your attack for now. There is something very different about this Templar, I sense something, or someone amiss this sudden arrival, but I cannot pinpoint it!'_ Kerrigan scowled when she heard her rival's telepathic suggestion.

'_Do not presume to think about how I might fail. This pitiful Templar is hardly worth my effort! Stay on your side of the planet and out of my business, or you will find yourself on the wrong end of death!' _

'_You dare to threaten a Cerebrate, you will be the doom of us all. You and that freakish creation of a Saiyan!'_ Kerrigan glanced at Zerg-Verto, to see if he picked up on all of that. If anything the child was not even paying attention to anything around him, just seemed to stand against the side of her hive wall, seemingly meditating. _Hmmm, Zasz may have noticed Verto's change as well, they were certainly more friendly last night. I'll try to make contact with Verto's mind again later. Right now I have a Templar to take to school!_

**15 minutes into the battle**, Kerrigan's hive started running low on energy. Primarily the energy provided by mineral crystals and Vespene Gas. She cursed herself slightly by being so hasty in moving against the Protoss and forgetting about fortifying her position. Her Hive falling apart wasn't what she needed right now, if it did most of the Zerg nearby would turn out of control should it completely shut down before she could erect control over them all. It didn't matter though, her troops had already taken out the main attack wave the Protoss had managed to conjure up. They hadn't sent that much at her, only about 300 Zealots and Dragoons on the ground. Though that many Protoss were on the ground, she lost easily double to triple that in terms of Zerglings and Hydralisks, as Protoss warriors were very formidable. As she watched from the safety of her own Hive, she directed her troops to standby outside the Protoss base until she could get some fresh reinforcements down there. She didn't feel she needed them that badly for a victory, but she didn't want to draw this out very long, not with Verto feeling so unstable to her. Speaking of the Saiyan, she checked on him quickly while in her meditation like phase. He was still resting against the outer wall of the Hive, she doubted he had done much more than blink. After spawning a few hundred more groundlings, she emptied her base completely and sent them all after the Protoss.

30 minutes later, the base was destroyed, her Zerg had won decisively. She found no trace of the Templar Artanis. She searched the area as best she could for him both with her forces and with her mind, but he was nowhere to be found.

Growling slightly, she sent out a telepathic message to the whole area, '_Come out Artanis, I know you are here somewhere!'_

She received an answer a short while later, _'If we must battle, we will battle on the plateau a few miles from your base, come alone!'_ Kerrigan got up right away, she was ready to show this Templar who he was messing with. She called for all her troops to return to base as she walked out. She glanced at Verto briefly after exiting the hive, he seemed to be bearing a smirk but still didn't move as she boarded an Overlord for transport. Some of her attack flyers escorted her to the mountain but she waved them off when she arrived. Jumping out and sending the Overlord away, she spotted the Templar right away. His bright smile never ceased.

'So, you managed to find your balls after all, Templar. I'll give you some credit Artanis, you aren't a complete coward even though I thoroughly defeated your little troops! Artanis didn't answer, just kept smiling. Kerrigan charged him and swung a claw at his head. Her claw passed right through the Templar like he was made of air, and his figure then blipped like a hologram.

'A phantom, are you afraid of me Templar?'

The figure then spoke on his own, 'As long as you continue to be so predictable, I need not face you at all. Unlike on Tarsonis, I learned from my mistakes, and correct them when needed. Enjoy your little moral victory, you haven't seen the last of the Protoss,' Artanis said as his double faded out.

'DAMNIT!'

**Kerrigan came back into the base like a furious storm**. Several Zerglings just happened to be standing in her way at the time, bad idea when she attacked them for no reason. Since she was their master, they didn't fight back, and paid for it.

'Problems?' Zerg-Verto asked from the wall, still not opening his eyes, but keeping his smirk.

She glared at him slightly, 'Nothing that can't be fixed. I need to make a report now. If you care to join me?'

'Need to report to that weakling of a master? Why not, I might enjoy listening to him talk himself up,' Verto said. Kerrigan winced slightly at his cocky remark, again noting that this behavior wasn't of Cerebrate or of the regular Verto. That and unlike before, he was insulting the Overmind directly, a very bold thing to do. As they sat down where she directed, she wasn't sure she wanted to connect to Verto's mind now. However, it could tell her what she wanted to know, as long as she could keep her thoughts in order during the link. She assumed that this "fake" Verto would be able to as he had so far. They touched hands and she reached out with her mind, calling for the Overmind. She didn't get an answer right away, so she took a small peek into the Saiyan's mind, digging much deeper than she had before. What she found in the span of about half a second truly disturbed her, and she decided that maybe she shouldn't stick around there any longer.

'Something wrong?' Zerg-Verto asked.

_Yeah, with you,_ She kept that thought to herself though, 'The Overmind isn't responding, that is very strange. I'll try Daggoth!' She needn't bother, the Cerebrate in mind was already calling her.

'_Kerrigan, Zasz is dead.' _It said simply.

Kerrigan snorted slightly, '_A pity that Cerebrates cannot truly be killed, I suspect that the Overmind will revive him soon. Or is he going to let him stay that way for awhile?'_

'_No, he will not, the Protoss have come up with some sort of new weapon. It not only killed Zasz, but caused the Overmind to recede to hibernation in shock from what has happened!'_ Kerrigan looked a bit bewildered now, Zerg-Verto looked interested to say the least.

'_So Artanis was simply a staged diversion, interesting!' _

'_Perhaps, Kerrigan, with Zasz's brood now without their master, they will run amok and threaten the other hive clusters. I need you and the boy to wipe out the Garm brood immediately, I will deal with the Protoss and find out what happened!'_ With that said, Daggoth cut the link, leaving Kerrigan something new to think about.

'So he wants us to kill that weakling's little band of insects, no problem. Where are they at?' Verto asked. Kerrigan again remembered some of the horrors she saw within Verto's mind and chose not to answer right away.

**Kerrigan sighed slightly when she sent Verto** out in the direction of Zasz's main Hive cluster. Once he was gone, she reviewed what she had seen to herself. She had been right, it was not the Cerebrate or Verto in control. It was an unseen evil that seemed to pop up out of nowhere, and it was now somewhat fused with the Cerebrate from what she could tell. But the fact that whoever it was could seemingly control all of Verto's powers so far, it was too much for her to wonder why. Verto was pure hearted to the core, and she had never sensed this kind of evil coming from him at all. While everyone has their bad moods and miniscule negative emotions, this new evil Verto transcended those minor differences. Something else she didn't understand, how was this evil one controlling all of his power, including the Psionic energy. This evil one either could access them already, or had some of his own, she couldn't tell which it was. The Good Verto was still up there, but was not active like before, she wondered if he had been fighting this imposter in his own mind and lost.

Her thoughts then turned to the Protoss. _What kind of weapon could kill a Cerebrate for good and hurt the Overmind, it can't be the Protoss technology. None of them can control both ki and psi, except for Aldaris, but even he wouldn't have pulled it off. He doesn't have a balance between his energies, only Verto and Gohan do, and the Saiyans are not here yet. Nor did Verto take off during the battle, something strange is going on here._ She pondered over this for the next several hours until she received her answer from Daggoth.

**Interlude: Videl's training**

**BANG! 'YEOOOWWWW!**' the cricket yelled loudly as he sailed into King Kai's house.

Videl dropped the hammer to her side with a big grin on her face, 'Serves you right!' Once Gregory recovered from being hit so hard, he and King Kai walked out of the house, the former holding a large bump on his head.

'Hehehe, you must get practice on using metal objects to whack Saiyans over the head from time to time!' Kai joked.

'Yeah, you could say that. So what's next?' Videl asked, hammer over her shoulder, somewhat anxious to know. Before King Kai answered however, Kibitoshin teleported in, scaring the daylights out of the monkey Bubbles.

'North Kai, Videl, how are you up here?'

'Supreme Kai, you honor me with your presence!' King kai said, bowing slightly.

'Please leave the extra special treatment to yourself. I should be honored to meet with you again. You are the one who trained Goku,' Kibito pointed out.

'Good point,' King Kai said, clearing his throat, 'What can we do for you today then?'

'A few things: First of all Videl, since your baby died with you, we decided to preserve it's spirit until you are ready to bear another child, whenever that may be. King Yemma will care for it until that time. Also, a majority of the life energy from the child recombines with the mother should death occur before birth. During your training, you may notice a significant increase in your power because of this,' Kibito said.

Videl smiled slightly, 'Thanks.'

'No problem, another thing: should any of the Saiyans of the past die, we plan to put them into stasis until this is all done and they are wished back and sent back to their new timeline. We have already taken precautions and placed their counterparts into stasis, but we shall do the same with them as the need arrives. We can't risk them running into each other say down in hell, that might be bad,' Kibito announced, drawing an interested look from both Kai and Videl.

'Why, who all has died up till now, we haven't seen anyone?' Videl asked.

'Other than you, Borgos, Broly and Shugesh have so far. Borgos died on earth, but the Zerg took him and his soul before we could remove it from the mortal plane. Verto killed the infested form of him with his power, and that sent him back up here, purified again. Broly committed suicide trying to take out the Overmind and Aldaris killed Shugesh in the other dimension. My elder and I set up a small link with the Kai's of that dimension to have any dead from our universe sent here. Be warned North Kai, they only allowed us this for observation, we are not to interfere!'

King Kai swallowed the taste in his mouth, 'Got it!'

'Well, Bulma never said anything about Broly before the Protoss attacked, but why put them into Stasis? Why couldn't they be up here or something, they can't run into their other selves up here can they?' Videl asked.

'There is another reason, King Yemma has no choice but to judge them by their past lives before they came to this dimension. Of which they haven't done enough good to wipe that record clean, so until one of them does, its either Stasis or hell. They didn't argue if you must know, for them they won't even be able to tell time passed at all. Broly, despite his sacrifice, has killed too many, and was sent to Hell. I don't see many bad guys bugging him down there, and he was welcomed by the Saiyans there,' Kibito said reassuringly.

'Aw shucks, I was hoping Fasha would make it up here, or I could meet her again whenever I'm wished back. I still need to take her on!' Videl boasted.

King Kai looked slightly worried now, 'Um, Videl, that may not be the best idea at the moment. You have gotten a lot stronger, much more than your father, but Fasha is an ascended Super Saiyan. I doubt many humans could even fathom that much power running through them at once, alive or dead!'

'Well then, you better train me real good so I can!' Videl beamed at him. King Kai looked thoughtful, but also full of doubt.

'Why do you want to take her on anyway?' Kai asked.

'To show her what humans are all about, I'm not afraid of any Saiyan, and I don't think she can just latch onto the kid just like that. I'm gonna show her up that's all!' Kibito raised a hand to say goodbye before being stopped by Videl.

'Speaking of which, can you at least tell us how everyone is doing?'

Kibito looked a bit nervous at that question, 'Promise you won't tell the others outside this plane?' He directed that question towards King kai, who then nodded.

'The situation, doesn't look very good, but we're hoping for the best, I really should not say anymore than that,' Kibito turned to leave.

'Wait, just tell us how Verto and Gohan are doing?' Videl called back. Kibitoshin sighed heavily, he silently wished he still had that conviction of Kai and Kibito that could let him leave a subject alone no matter what anyone said, but his newer personality just wouldn't let him do it, especially to this girl.

'Gohan may be our last hope to defeat the Overmind. Verto is struggling to hold onto his life and who he is. It may have been a mistake to restore him to his youthful state, but it was a necessary precaution. We feared what may happen if the Zerg had gotten a hold of him in his adult form, I think I have said enough,' Kibito then put two fingers to his head and teleported out. That left Videl slightly clueless, but King Kai definitely understood that.

'So anyway, what's next, I'm serious about learning to fight as well as a Saiyan, or better!'

King kai sighed, knowing she would not give that up, 'Ki basics!'

**Interlude: Dabura**

**Dabura was sitting on a high pillar on Grand Kai's planet**, meditating. He sensed Kibitoshin appear near where North Kai and the girl were training, but elected to remain where he was until the Kai came to him. As he expected he did come, and he didn't bother to open his eyes to greet the Kai, who appeared right in front of him in the air.

'So, you've come to see me at last, it took you long enough,' Dabura mused, drawing a scowl.

'It wasn't my decision to put you up here you know. Had it been I, you would be guaranteed a reservation in Hell where you can enjoy yourself on torturing others. It is what your kind does best!'

Dabura chuckled slightly, 'Please Kai, leave your sporting remarks for another day. Your power might be higher than mine, but I can still take you down one way or another!'

Kibito didn't answer to that right away, 'Well, while you're up here we might as well make use of your...experience. Whenever this Zerg mess is over with, should the Saiyans win that is, I am willing to appoint you in charge of training Gohan and Verto with their mixed energies,' Kibito began before being cut off.

'It's called **_Chi_**, Kai, get it right the first time. I figured even you could figure that out since your kind has been using it for a long time!'

'We weren't sure that is what it was, no one other than demons and Kais have ever been able to channel a this power so purely before. Nor be able to split it off like these Saiyans have done! I still have my doubts about its actual origins, and my elder has not uncovered the answers as of it,' Kibito said a little louder now.

'Kai please, the only reason it has been split up is because of that old bat hiding up on your world, he placed those limits on them on purpose. Oh, you think I didn't know about that? I am far more observant to the mortal plane than you realize. I understand that those energies are split up upon birth. However if the old fart had released them all at once, the boys would probably both have gray hair like you. He did that purposefully so they could ascend to their new heights over time. Had he not done that, well the incident with Majin Buu would be much different wouldn't it?' Kibito looked down, not answering.

'Not that it wasn't a wise move with Gohan at that time, but to do the same with the boy. The boy who has such a future ahead of him. You knew he would need that knowledge against the complete power of the Zerg, but you gambled with him as well to learn it on his own. Very foolish of you Kais, if you're going to interfere, at least do it right!'

'We felt it was best for both of them to discover this on their own. As we would not have been able to teach them how to use the full power of their soul energy that you call Chi!'

'Kai, do I need to explain that again, I call it what it is. Ki energy is their life force and physical forms, psi is their spirit. Chi is those two combined, which is their total power. Most demons and Kai's have the complete energy born into them unlike mortals. If I recall my research it is that split that helps them remain weaker in mind and body and on the mortal plane! Otherwise there would be quite an amount of Kais and super powered beings running around down there, well more than usual anyway. Got that down now, or should I write it down for your feeble mind?' Dabura laughed a little louder now at the Kai's expense.

'Something I don't understand, how is it that Verto's power goes up so much when his ki power is now so much smaller, Gohan's does not go up by nearly such a factor...' Kai asked, only because he was wondering.

'I thought that wrinkled prune would have told you that by now, unless of course he didn't know that one either. The boy's power is unique to anyone I have come across regarding all 3 energies. Perhaps having his power split up is an advantage, it certainly doesn't hurt having more options. His power is very close to balanced, he probably has just a tad bit more ki than he does psi, that is why. When he ascends to his true form and power, I suspect those two energies will be perfectly aligned, and when they are they merge quite well. He will be capable of taking down any foe, even those stronger than he is. All he needs is the right training. Gohan only has enough to tap those energies, but all it will really do is increase his already high ki. Not by much, he should be able to handle his own training, the boy is another story!' Dabura chuckled slightly again, bringing Kibito back to the point as to why he was here.

'Which is what I am counting on you to provide, you can teach him how to use psi separately I assume?'

'No need Kai, if those two have already unlocked it and started channeling both energies, they can figure it out on their own. However I cannot do much in that field. Just like you Kais, my power will not separate out like that. If anything that gives the two Saiyans a greater advantage in battle. I can teach the boy how to use his Chi effectively other than upgrading his little ki attacks, but as far as the psi goes, I won't be able to help there. You will need to find someone else to handle that before I will train him on Chi, I trust you can do that?' Dabura gave him an eyeful, as he looked very unsure.

'I will see what I can do, not many beings in this dimension can use it like that,' Kibito turned to leave.

'Before you go, is there any guess your little far-seeing mind can tell me as to when I should expect the boy?'

'Not really, but if all goes well, within the next year, either alive or dead,' Kibito said, teleporting out.

Dabura smiled to himself slightly, 'Guess I should entertain myself until then, now where does that fighter Pikkon usually piddle around at?'

**A/N: Obviously I have just left a bunch of things in the air as to the future of this story. I wasn't going to really throw this stuff in until Series 6, but I figured why not. I'm sure some of it has been figured out by now by some of my loyal readers. This little bit that Dabura explained will be explained again in the future, and I will not refer to mixed energy as Chi until that time.**

**And if you're into the correct definitions of Ki, Psi, Chi, etc, don't remind me of them. I am well aware of how some of them are defined and how ki and chi are supposedly the same. While it is a legitimate argument, this is my story and that's how it will be written. I've seen some stories (I'm not naming them) where Saiyans are usingdifferent energiesand there are some combined things going on with it. I figured I should at least assign a name for the "mixed energy" instead of calling it that all the time.**


	23. The Dark Templar

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 22: The Dark Templar**

It had been a few hours since Kerrigan sent Zerg-Verto out, or in this case he sent himself out. He was close to the Garm Brood's main Hive cluster. Not surprisingly, nothing had slowed him down. Kerrigan scanned the rest of the planet as best she could with her mind, noting a few Terran squadrons that had gotten stuck without a ride home after what Verto did to the Dominion's fleet. She then crossed over an area that once had many mountains until Verto had blown most of them up with his power. It was back when he ran into Raynor and those strange aliens that were allergic to light. _Oh crap, Jim!_ She rescanned the area of his ship, spotting that some of the Garm Brood's forces were getting close to it, then sensing Raynor coming out with his trusty machine gun.

Kerrigan's eyes snapped open, "I've got to go save him, now while the Overmind is pacified!" She exited her Hive and called several dozen Zerg flyers to her and a transport Overlord. _I just hope I don't get there too late!_

**-**

Zerg-Verto grinned as he finished off the rest of the outer constructs of the Garm Brood's main Hive Cluster. He hadn't gotten to the center of the large base yet. A few of the flyers were erratic and a little wild in their attack against him, but it didn't matter. _I wonder if the Cerebrate's eye will still be around somewhere so I can have a trophy!_ He blasted at a few stray flyers and groundlings before crossing another mountain range to get to the main base. When he got there though, well he expected some sort of resistance. Instead he saw nothing but receding creep on the ground and what used to be buildings, fallen apart everywhere on the ground. The fresh blood in the air told him an enemy might still be around, so he descended slowly and trudged through the soft but solid creep, glancing around. He came upon the broken hive cluster and floated down to the underground portion of it. When he reached the bottom of the hollowed out ground, he lit a ki ball to light up the area a bit more. Ahead of him the dark chamber of the Cerebrate Zasz lay open. He strode inside, spotting that the creature had definitely been killed. There were slash marks all over its form and it was leaking orange blood, or at least what he thought was blood.

"Strange creatures even in death," he noted before a gust of wind went by his ear. He dodged aside and reversed his position into a fighting stance, ready to tear apart whatever created that wind. He saw nothing, but his other senses told him different.

"Come out, I know your in here somewhere. You cannot hide from me!" Verto said. The air in front of him seemed to shift just a bit, like there was an extreme heat coming from directly below him.

"Fine, if I have to flush you out I will!" Verto said, gathering a ki ball and getting it ready to fire.

"Wait!" a groggy, hissing voice said. Verto didn't release the ki ball, but he kept it lit anyway.

"Come on, I'm waiting!"

"We only reveal ourselves to those we deem worthy of sight. I sense the evil in you, but you will not succeed in destroying us!" the voice said again.

Verto rolled his eyes slightly, "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that a tiny child scared so many. I'll calmly tuck away the evil and find that pacifistic weakling in me somewhere, might take awhile. Go ahead and try to beat me while I'm at it, you won't even touch me!"

"You underestimate me, a foolish decision!" Another eye roll as Verto fired his ki blast straight ahead. He saw something move away quickly and shot at it as well, resulting in both blasts hitting a wall. Suddenly a long and sharp blade seemed to materialize right under his throat just as someone grabbed him from behind. Whoever it was, they were strong, he figured that out quickly. The blade seemed to shimmer with a dark green energy that seemed to tell him not to mess with it.

"Yield child!" the voice said again. Zerg-Verto laughed slightly, powering up in the process. At first his added energy didn't blow his opponent back like he thought it would, but his increased strength was going to have an impact. When he felt the figure's gray arm's lighten slightly, he ducked and grabbed the arm. He pulled and threw the figure over his back and in front of him. When the figure arose again, Zerg-Verto took in his features. The figure was definitely Protoss, his long and grayish head gave it away. However he was not wearing any armor, he appeared to be only wearing a raggy cloak. The blade Verto saw was similar to that of a Psi blade that he remembered seeing in the battles before, but the blade was longer and dark green in color. The figure seemed to prefer the shadows, but apparently didn't have a problem with fighting in the open. Verto scanned the being's energy, getting a bit of a surprise in return when he noticed a clear-cut ki signal along with a Psi signal. Both were coming together and out in the form of the green blade. Despite his surprise at the new type of Protoss warrior, he hid it well.

"Another Protoss weakling I take it? You a friend of that old prune Aldaris?" Verto mocked.

"Aldaris you say, one of the Judicators if I remember correctly. What do you know of him?" the Protoss figure asked.

"Just a few little clashes, I'm surprised that he managed to find a little bit of potential in that frail body of his. I would gladly go destroy him now if I knew where to search, he fled like a little girl after I trashed him last time!" Verto smirked very Vegeta-like, even though it wasn't truly him that dueled with Aldaris.

"And what exactly are you little Terran? Some new form of Zerg we haven't encountered before?"

"Wow, it took a full two minutes before you called me a Terran! Seriously I'm impressed! And no, this Zerg thing is just temporary until that big octopus is killed. Once he is out of my hair I can start my universal domination!" Verto grinned even more now.

"Such a creature will never rule a planet, never mind the universe. I do not know what you are little Terran, but rest assured, we will meet again!" the figure said, walking towards the exit.

"Hold on, I never gave you permission to leave!" Verto said, charging another ki blast in his hand, aiming at the figure's head as he had his back to him.

"I do not require permission to leave, child. You are fortunate that I have delayed our quarrel for another time!" the Protoss said, continuing to walk. Verto fired the ki blast and smiled as it sailed towards his target, he was sure it would kill him on impact. The figure turned ever so slightly before slashing the ki blast with his energy blade. The blast didn't even try to resist, and instead bounced straight back at a surprised Verto. He dodged aside and watched his blast hit the dead Cerebrate. He growled slightly and turned to face his opponent, only to discover he was already gone.

"Argh, Where are you Protoss? You can't hide from me!" Verto snarled, flying fast into the opened hive cluster. He searched every nook and cranny with his eyes and energy senses, not picking him up anywhere. He growled some more as he looked around the destroyed base, not seeing any movement anywhere, nor sensing any energy. _What a tricky customer, he will be a worthy opponent to defeat!_

**-**

Kerrigan practically leapt out of the Overlord and started in a dead sprint towards Raynor"s ship. Some of her brood's companions trotted along with her on the ground, others stayed on guard behind. Kerrigan gasped slightly for breath as she ran as fast as she could, getting to the ship's entrance as quickly as possible. She noted at least eighty to one hundred dead Zerg on the ground, with several bullet holes in each.

_Well that's not a surprise. He wasn't the Dominion's best soldier for nothing, even if he did get a bit trigger-happy._ She scanned with her senses first, picking up nothing alive inside the ship. She followed the trail of Zerglings inside, as that was all that would successfully make it through the door before it would be shot at. Inside there was nothing but bullet holes and dead Zerg lining the hallways as she stepped over a few of them. She followed what appeared to be Raynor's main stand all the way into the cafeteria. Lots of tables and chairs were tipped over and pushed about. Dead Zerglings were everywhere, bullet holes in them and the walls. She scanned around for any sign of Raynor, finding none. She glanced over at the furthest walls, spotting more human looking blood on the walls. She put a finger up to it, feeling it was still fluidic, therefore fresh. On the ground was the Zergling that must have clawed him. Its claws had broken the armor on his leg, which was stripped off five feet away.

Up a little further she spotted his machine gun discarded on the ground, and then some more armor being dropped and or ripped off. She followed the trail all the way to what must have been his former crew's bunks. There was his own bloody handprint on the walls pushing the door open, more Zerglings dead. All of the bunks were tipped over, so she walked around so she could see what happened a little better. The maze of beds and Zerglings told her that Jim got himself backed into the farthest corner. _His body should be close...right around here._ She spotted a green armored boot tossed on the side of the last bunk along with a small puddle of blood, and prepared herself for the worst. She turned and opened her eyes.

"Huh?" All she saw was an empty corner, along with a discarded pistol and six Zerglings sliced in half and piled up nice and neat.

"How did he do it?" Kerrigan asked herself wide eyed. She shifted into determination to find out and placed her hand on the top Zergling to read its memory on the battle. Luckily for her she would only need to read one as all Zerg in a brood share memories, despite being a little out of control. She closed her eyes as the image blurred into a black and white view. A loud machine gun went off in front of her, the user pulling his gun up and smoking a cigar in the process. Raynor was outside fighting the renegade Zerg that had come for him.

"_You want me, come and get me_!" Raynor shouted, ripping off another round of ammunition into several Zerglings and Hydralisks. He spotted another small herd of lings coming at him from the side and heard his gun click sharply when he pulled the trigger.

"_Shit_," he said, pulling a grenade from his backpack. He launched it like a football at the head Zergling, hitting the receiver and watching them all go down in a ball of fire.

"_Haha, I love the smell of toasted Zerglings in the morn'in!_" he shouted as he smacked another clip into his machine gun and fired away. The numbers of Zerg quickly increased and he backed off and ran to the door of his ship. He dodged several hundred green needles shot from the Hydralisks as he jumped inside and rolled over. Zerglings charged in and he opened fire, downing them all quickly. Kerrigan recalled seeing a lot of dead Zerglings there. The battle continued into the café where several drink machines got involved in being tipped over either by Raynor himself or by Zerglings jumping on them and tipping them over before they pounced. Raynor smacked his last clip of ammo into his gun and unloaded on them, but no matter how many died, more kept coming. His gun clicked sharply again, signaling it was empty.

Only a few Zerglings remained in front of him, but no more machine gun ammo. A Zergling leapt at him, biting through the armor on his leg. He yelped in pain as he fell to the ground right out of the other entrance to the café, kicking if off with his good leg. He pulled a sidearm pistol from his backside and pumped five shots into the Zergling's head, killing it. He limped as his leg trickled blood from the bite wound. The Zerglings followed him, about ten or so in all. He got into the crew's bunkroom and started knocking over bunks to slow their progress. It worked to an extent, and he was able to down four of the Zerglings before his pistol ran out. Five lings stood in front of him, the one Kerrigan was reading had hidden itself in the debris of the bunks. It became ready to strike outward but waited on its comrades to do the job instead. Raynor reached behind and pulled out a knife, his last defense aside from his own fists. The first Zergling charged forward and Raynor kicked it in its side before stabbing in the side of the neck. It went down whimpering but got back up and stepped back, licking at the wound. The other four jumped at him and overpowered him to the ground, tearing at his armor with their sharp claws.

"_Get off of me!_" he shouted, to no avail. He punched at a few of them, only to get his armored arms bitten at in response. His armor stood up to their claws and teeth, but not for long, and his right arm soon felt like his bad leg now, armor stained with red. The fifth and wounded Zergling jumped on his chest as the other four held him down.

"_Go ahead, get it over with you sorry little insect!_" he shouted at the orange Zergling. The Zergling leaped to bite off his head, only to stop as it heard a whooshing sound nearby. The Zergling stopped dead in its tracks and sat there motionless. Jim spotted what appeared to be a crack along the head, slowly tracking downwards as the creature cried out in pain. Kerrigan gasped slightly as the Zergling broke in half very cleanly, separate ends straying to the sides. The four chewing at Raynor's armor stopped and looked slightly fearful. Then they jumped up at the empty air right ahead of him, landing and growling, looking for the new presence. The presence moved in the highly lightened air like a mirage, and the Zerglings did not take notice long enough to see the blade it used to slice them all up. One slash apiece came across their heads, leaving a deep enough wound to kill the brain.

Raynor jumped up next, seeing nothing as they had, holding his arm slightly in wonder. The Zergling in the debris then jumped out at him and latched onto his injured arm, biting and swinging as he tried to shake it off. Kerrigan felt along with the Zergling, it being pulled by the legs from Raynor. Whoever it happened to be was very strong, and hurled it across the room, hitting the wall very harshly at a high speed and sliding as its insides spilled out a bit. Kerrigan felt the Zergling dying, but stuck around as Jim was now up and looking quite surprised. Then she felt the air shift a bit and saw as four figures suddenly appeared out of thin air, all of them out of some sort of cloaking shield like she could use. She saw they're grayish green heads, knowing they had to be Protoss.

Raynor thought the same thing, "_Protoss, here?_" The four newcomers did not bear much of any armor that Kerrigan could see, looked like mostly rags for clothes. The large sword-like blade at the leaders side did not appear to be completely based on technology, as the sword seemed to only emerge from a wristband like device. The energy sword the leader used glowed with dark green energy of some sort, and it was large and long.

"_Well my friend, Protoss is close enough. We are the Dark Templar, how can we be of assistance?_" the leader asked in a groggy voice. The vision then stopped abruptly as the Zergling had finally died and the last image had been burned into the back of its small brain. Kerrigan's eyes opened sharply, looking around at the same surroundings. She glanced and scanned every single shadow of the ship on her way out the door, not wanting to be caught off guard. Her Zerg outside stood guard, looking about as aware as they ever get.

"So, they were the beings I sensed the other night. They will be formidable." She whispered to herself as she boarded her Overlord transport, heading back to her Hive cluster.

**A/n: I'm sure some folks can see where this is going, especially if they know the SC storyline well. It will be different though, as you might imagine.**


	24. The Trap is Set

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 23: The Trap is Set**

Despite his nasty attitude about being foiled, Kerrigan was at least glad Zerg-Verto wasn't a complete moron and not tell of his outing. Though he didn't have any more information than she did, he was willing to share it with her before fuming for a while on how they had gotten away from him.

"Perhaps we should wait until the others join us in conference before we decide how we should deal with these Dark Templar. They may not be enemies we want to rush after," Kerrigan suggested, getting a slight scowl in return. Verto walked off and planted himself along the wall, eyes shut and very Vegeta-like. Kerrigan snorted slightly at how much the child was acting like the Saiyan prince, but she didn't feel surprised in the least. After all it was Vegeta who trained him to begin with.

"Do what you want! When I find them again I'll destroy them myself!" he said before giving a Zergling nearby a very dark stare, one evil enough that the creature didn't stick around to find out what his bad mood was all about.

**-**

The next morning Kerrigan finally sensed the Overmind calling to her and called Verto to the bottom of the hive. She sensed he didn't want to join them but seemed to know better than not too.

_Well even if he is evil, he still isn't with the Overmind yet. He still longs for freedom and is putting on a pretty decent act, guess I just need to get his good side back. Might be hard though, I can only guess that he said he would stick around in return for his own free will. Let's just hope he doesn't slip up somewhere and the Overmind wants full control, which would be bad. Still I'm trying to figure out how the Cerebrate and the good part of Verto aren't in more control, it doesn't make sense. I'll worry about it later._ She took Verto's stiff hand with her own and called out with her mind to the Overmind, getting a response rather quickly. Daggoth and a few of the other Cerebrates joined in the conversation a short few seconds later.

"_Alas my long slumber is broken and I am made whole again. The cunning Protoss have dared strike at those who are immortal, and will pay the price. I advise caution however, these Dark Templar are unlike anything we have faced before, for they radiate energies much like my own, and it is these energies that have caused me harm. Yet their overwhelming pride shall be their downfall, for when the assassin Zeratul murdered Zasz, his mind touched with mine, and I took from him the secret location of Auir, the Protoss home world. At long last my children, our searching is over, and we shall soon assault Auir directly and become the perfect race. Yet before we do this, we must ensure the Dark Templar can cause no more harm. They must be eradicated immediately. Verto, you shall set a trap for our confident foes. You shall leave them no where to run while Daggoth and Kerrigan's broods assault their base camp and lead them to you. You will find them in a deep valley nearby Zasz's former Hive cluster. There is only one way out of that valley, so this should be simple. Do not fail me!_"

With that said the connection was cut and Kerrigan opened her eyes to see Verto's eyes. His eyes were pointed somewhat downward, but were open like he was listening to every detail. He was likely interested in the start of the one-sided conversation than the latter. He suddenly had a slight smirk on his face like he was planning something.

"What are you planning Verto?" Kerrigan asked as she had disconnected herself from his mind, quite frankly she didn't want to know that badly.

"Nothing that concerns you, just be sure to stay out of my way when that time comes. As for these Dark Templar, I will fight them all myself. Your little band of insects should stay out of my way as well!" he warned.

Kerrigan frowned at the cocky tone she heard, "I don't know what you're planning to do, but I don't advise it. The only way you're going to get out of this mess you're in is to play along like you have been. It wouldn't take the Overmind long to take full control of you if he really wants to, you might want to remember that!"

Verto snorted and stood, walking out of the chamber, "Let me worry about that big octopus."

_Oh why did it have to be so complicated!_ Kerrigan thought to herself. She spent the rest of the day building up her forces and scouting the area mentioned.

**-**

The next day started off as planned, but it certainly didn't end that way. Kerrigan's scouting Overlords did indeed pick up a large Protoss base camp in that deep Valley. It seemed that Artanis had more forces with him than she expected, or he managed to set up a Warp gate and called additional troops from Auir, though she doubted that. She was right as she didn't spot one anywhere in the base. She could only deduce that he had joined forces with the Dark Templar, not completely surprising. Either way it was going to be a nasty battle; no doubt that's why she and Daggoth were put in charge of it.

She stood on one of the tall mountains above the valley, looking down on the base. There was close to three thousand Protoss troops down there by her count, but she did not detect any Dark Templar, assuming they could be detected. Their cloaking ability was similar to hers, and most did not detect her at all unless they had a really good knack for things like that and guessed just right. She glanced over to the entrance and exit to the valley, seeing Verto standing there with a few Overlords above him. He was scowling by the looks of it, though she was pretty far away to tell. _Well, no Protoss are going to get out of here on the ground given his hatred for them lately._

She and Daggoth had a plan for battle already set up anyway. She was to assault the base while he struck from afar with a large legion of his Guardians. Kerrigan had never liked the crab-like Guardians much, but she respected their accurate range, despite the lack of air speed and ability to fight in the air. Daggoth was also to prevent the Protoss from escaping through the air, in which he had plenty of air and ground support to take care of that on top of the cliffs. He had little to no assistance for air to ground transport, and it would take too long to go around to the valley. Kerrigan's problem was tricky though, as she had two options for getting her forces in there. Until something was cleared out, she would have to attack full fledged from the air and hope her Overlords would descend fast enough. She didn't want to take the second option and flood the entrance with her ground forces.

Two problems with the latter choice, one they would be forced into a bottleneck and it would cost her much in resources to keep them flowing in as Zerg are very easy to kill when bunched up. The other problem, a certain Saiyan was still in a bad mood by what she could tell. The haste in which he destroyed Zasz's brood still showed his general opinion of the Zerg. Unlike before this change when he was still hesitant to kill. So she began her attack through the air and waited for a hole to open. Unfortunately for her, there was plenty of ground support that could take out her forces, and she was going to have to wait awhile.

An hour into the battle, Kerrigan became frustrated. A small squadron of Protoss scout flyers had taken out Daggoth's Guardians rather quickly. Their air-to-air missiles did a quick job on them despite other Zerg around. The scouts were destroyed but not without losing the valuable ranged attackers, which pretty much ended Kerrigan's option of dropping in troops from above. The only other option was to flood the valley with her ground forces, in which she had many more of than anything else. Verto was nice enough to rise a few feet off the ground so they could get by, then again most anyone would want to avoid that kind of attacking stampede. They reached the Protoss base very quickly and began their attack against the mass of Protoss ground troops. Kerrigan then sent in more air support and transport Overlords as the ground forces arrived, trying to draw confusion. Unfortunately for her, the Protoss had a very quick answer. At the front line, several High Templar had set up behind their base entrance where they had set up Photon Cannons to defend themselves. These Templar then started channeling their Psi energy and sent out a large scale Psi Storm across the narrow passage, killing or severely injuring every Zerg in came across for at least a mile.

In between Psi Storm assaults, she spotted a few of the tank like Reavers coming out to the defense line. That spelled trouble as well, for they shot out explosive balls of energy that generally blew up an area of about twenty to thirty feet in diameter, bad news for a pack of small Zerg. While she still had plenty of troops flowing in, they were just marching to their deaths with that kind of defense set up. This allowed the overload of Protoss troops to concentrate on the air support she had coming in, which didn't last long either. She growled slightly at this.

Ever since the start of the battle she expected a bit of a stalemate at first, but not like this. Between her and Daggoth's forces, maybe they had killed a hundred and fifty Protoss warriors. On the flip side they had lost many more, herself a few thousand thanks to that bottlenecked entrance.

"_Kerrigan, this isn't working too well. May I make a suggestion?"_ Daggoth asked her.

"_I'm all ears._"

"_Restock your forces and surround the area but do not advance. Turn the boy loose to destroy them all. I am somewhat interested in seeing if he could defeat them all by himself!"_ Daggoth suggested.

Kerrigan wasn't so sure about that, _"Against three thousand Zerg I am sure he would win, but against these crafty Protoss I am not so sure. We do not know the extent of the Dark Templar's powers and abilities, it may be more than he can handle. And the Overmind's orders were for him to target them while we handle the rest!"_

"_Kerrigan, just do it. I am positive these Dark Templar will show their heads should he involve himself now, they are all full of foolish pride!"_ Daggoth claimed. Kerrigan hesitated slightly, not that she had any love loss for the Protoss, but she just wasn't sure Verto could beat that many of them.

"_Verto, you may attack the Protoss at your own discretion!"_ she thought out quickly. He didn't take off towards them with much speed, but he did advance and land at their front lines.

-

"It's a Terran child, must be an infested one! Look at all of the Zerg tissue!" a Zealot said.

"Terran's are weaker than Zerg! Why send this pitiful specimen to face us, have the Zerg lost their resolve?" another laughed. Zerg-Verto kept a sharp scowl on all of them. He regarded just about anyone as his enemy, but these Protoss seemed to stir his anger a little more than usual. _Probably has something to do with Aldaris killing Gohan's woman_, he thought to himself.

"I wish to battle your Dark Templar warriors, the rest of you are excused. Unless of course you want to die now," he said in a slightly loud voice, keeping a dark scowl.

"Prelate Zeratul and his brethren are busy little Terran, they don't have time to baby sit such a child. Go back to your masters and try to grow up before you come back looking for a fight. Maybe then you'll be worthy to kill!" the lead Zealot said.

"Fine, I'll take all of your lives instead. You might provide me with a little entertainment until I find this Zeratul!" Verto declared, firing a ki blast at the lead Zealot. His blast stopped just shy of the Zealot's head, a green blade phased into view and canceled it out, before its owner decloaked himself and stood in front.

"Stay back my brothers, this one I will deal with!" the new Protoss said. Verto looked amused and surprised to say the least.

"You are the one I came across before aren't you?" he asked.

"That is correct child, now you must face me before I will allow you to bring harm to my people again. You will know me as Prelate Zeratul!"

"So you're a Dark Templar, interesting energy you seem to have. I will make sport of you before I wipe the floor with the rest of your race!" Verto said, taking a fighting stance.

"If you think so child. Since you are our...guest, you should be aware of my rules of combat. Do not involve any of my brethren, to do so will receive a swift and unworthy death, and do not call in more Zerg reinforcements, that will result in the same. Surely a warrior like yourself can understand this short list of ground rules?" Zeratul sneered slightly.

"As per your requests, I have one of my own. If your soldiers value their lives, they had better back off. As for the Zerg, I do not control their actions, but if it makes you happy…" Verto turned and fired a large beam towards the exit to the Valley. All of the Zerg troops waiting at the entrance and in the bottleneck were instantly obliterated when the beam came through. It didn't take but a second before his mind was attacked from afar by the Overmind.

"_Verto, what are you doing?!"_ Verto winced slightly when the Overmind's voice came into his head, and didn't quite think straight enough to answer through his mind. So he answered aloud while staring upwards, confusing the Protoss slightly. The fact that the Overmind had shouted directly at his thoughts made him angry, and any act he was putting on was washed away by his Saiyan instincts.

"I fight my battles, you fight yours! Stay out of my head or I'll come for you next!" he shouted at the air above him.

"_Do not assume that you can simply disobey me whenever you wish! You are mine now and you will do as I order. Now destroy this Templar immediately along with the rest of these pitiful Protoss. Your meaningless battles mean nothing to the grand scheme of the Swarm. Failure will not be an option!"_ Along with that message, The Overmind sent along a bit of a jolt that caused him to stiffen as a small amount of pain touched his tail. He snarled at the air some more before crouching back into his stance.

"Come on, let's get started before big ugly decides to interrupt again!" Verto said to the slightly confused Zeratul.

"Why do you obey the Overmind? You have a stronger will to be free. That creature cannot control you, why obey it?" Zeratul asked instead.

"If it was by choice, believe me I would have destroyed that thing by now. But he did set me free of my prison and unfortunately he does have a small level of authority over this body right now. Don't remind me of it, I want to fight not talk!"

Zeratul sighed slightly, "Very well, may the best warrior win!"

Verto grinned, "I'm sure I will!"


	25. ZergVerto vs Zeratul

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 24: Zerg-Verto vs. Zeratul**

"I promise not to use the full extent of my power on you Zeratul, so try to make it more than two minutes before dying!" Zerg-Verto said with a tight grin. Zeratul disregarded this comment and refocused himself on Verto only. His dark green blade seemed to shimmer as he concentrated.

"Oh please, don't tell me you need a weapon to face me! Then again you just might need everything to even scratch me!" Verto taunted again.

Zeratul hid a smile, "I thought you wanted to fight, not talk?" Verto dashed forward and ducked under the swipe that Zeratul tried at his head as he punched towards Zeratul's chest. A blue shield hit his hand a few inches short and he was forced to back away from it. Zeratul however did not stop and ran very quickly towards Verto a few feet away, slashing towards his head again. Ducking, Verto swept his legs, only to see Zeratul jump over them completely and catch Verto across the face with a quick and accurate kick. Zeratul jumped backward and stood at a ready stance with his green sword-like wrist blade, watching Verto stand up slowly. Wiping a little dirt off his lip, Zerg-Verto smiled slightly as the Dark Templar shifted his feet.

"You really like that energy blade of yours, eh? How well do you fare without it?" Verto asked.

"Well enough," Zeratul replied, keeping it ready on his wrist, where it was attached much like a Zealot's. Verto suddenly shot a ki blast at Zeratul's sword-side wrist. He stood by, watching as the older Templar's reaction was very fast, and it hit just the green blade, canceling it out.

_Looks like I'll have to wear him out,_ "That's okay...I can handle a little swordplay too!" Verto said, focusing his Psi and creating his Psi sword in his hands.

"Impressive, the ability to concentrate Psionic energy without the help of technology. That isn't a uncommon ability, but for a Terran child to handle it so purely...astounding," Zeratul acknowledged.

"It gets better old timer," Verto said, charging and slashing down and front. Zeratul matched his blade horizontally and the two engaged in a slight power struggle. Verto was struggling a little more than Zeratul, and soon pulled away from it and attacked quickly. He cut and slashed several times while moving with Zeratul, trying to keep the advantage. The older master parried each sword blow effectively and spun around on the last one, placing his sword right under Verto's chin.

"I believe the duel is mine," Zeratul said calmly. Verto dropped his Psi sword in surprise; he knew he was beaten and that the older master would not hesitate.

"You do not have near the experience as myself when handling weapons. However I am curious about your ability to control your powers. I sense that you cannot only control Psi, but the life energy known as Ki. Not very many beings can do that around these parts," Zeratul noted, taking the sword's edge off Verto's neck.

Several warriors nearby protested loudly, "No Prelate Zeratul, don't let him live!"

"Do not worry my brothers, I don't intend to lose this fight. There is just as much to learn here for us as well as him!"

Zerg-Verto held his slightly burnt chin in surprise, "I hope you know that you will not get a chance like that again! The warm-up is over!" Zeratul nodded slightly, easing his blade into a ready position.

-

Zerg-Verto fired a small volley of ki blasts at Zeratul first before charging towards him a few feet above ground, a ki powered fist ready to take his head off. Zeratul avoided each blast and vanished completely once Verto arrived. Verto skidded to a stop and scanned with his senses, energy sense more than anything. He was quite surprised to sense no trace of Zeratul, much like before back at Zasz's cave. Seeing he was wide open for an attack, he jumped into the air and hovered about fifteen feet up, watching and waiting. A small green energy ball came flying at him from directly below, and he dodged out of the way quickly. Several more followed before they stopped, he still couldn't sense where the source was.

"C'mon Zeratul! Do you have to use something this cheap? If you want I'll end it now!" Verto said, drawing his hands back for a finishing blast. Zeratul suddenly reappeared about fifty feet away on the ground, staring straight at Verto with his arms at their span in a horizontal position, his blade turned off by the looks of it.

"Giving up already? Fine then, say goodbye! Galic Gun…" Verto began. Zeratul began to glow bright blue like he was powering up something.

"Give it your best shot old timer!" Verto dared while letting his blast continue to charge in his hands. Suddenly he detected Zeratul's Psi energy emerge and surround him in the air, bouncing around unstable.

"So the Psi Storm trick? Ain't gonna work on me!" Verto declared, ready to fire his blast. Suddenly he got very cold in an instant, and his body quit moving just as a blurry blue glass-like substance surrounded him, his blast shut off immediately. _What the hell is this, I can't move!_

The Protoss warriors were cheering. "Excellent Master Zeratul, you caught him with your Stasis Technique!" one announced. _Stasis technique, must be handy. Now how the hell am I going to get out of it?_ Zerg-Verto thought as he struggled to move an inch, or breathe for that matter.

"Only a foolish warrior charges in unprepared to face an unknown enemy, perhaps that will be a lesson learned in your venture to the next world!" Zeratul declared as his sword then flashed on again, coming towards him. Verto then started powering up to try and blow the ice off, seeing the ice turn white in the light of his aura.

"What is this?" Zeratul asked.

"It appears he is drawing up all of his energy in an attempt to free himself. Quite foolish since he will burn it all up in the process!" another Dark Templar said from the sidelines.

Zeratul shook his head, "No, this boy has been able to channel his powers for quite some time. I suspect this may be a way to use them to strengthen his own body. His anatomy is much denser than a normal Terran, fascinating." Verto then started to melt the ice under his powerup and pushed outwards with his ki, blowing it off and powering up to his maximum power in normal form, aura flowing freely and occasionally seeing a lightning bolt go through it.

"It's impossible to break the Stasis Field, isn't it?" a Zealot asked.

"Not impossible, remember it doesn't last that long. That ice is made mostly of energy and partially of water vapor, thus anyone caught within it could feasibly use their own energy to break down the field at a higher rate of decay. So any enemy in there too long can possibly find a way out or just wait patiently," Zeratul explained, not bothering to notice that Verto was taking mental notes. He stepped forward with a grin as his ki dried him off a bit.

"Cool technique old man, however, it wont work again!" Verto claimed.

"Whoever said I would use it again now, you've proven it to be fruitless. I'll show you another one though if you like, though you may not survive it!" Zeratul dared.

"I'm growing bored with your boasting, its time to put up or shut up!" Verto declared, charging his Galic Gun with every intention to make it final. With most of the Protoss base and troops at his back, Zeratul put one hand forward and created a small white energy ball to counter it. Verto sensed it was a Psi blast, but had an unusually low power behind it. Deciding not to play around, he charged enough ki that it would completely blow it over along with Zeratul and the most of the base.

"_Do it Verto! Quit wasting time and kill them all now for me!"_ the Overmind ordered through his mental link.

"_I'll do it, but certainly not for you!_" he answered back, firing the giant beam. The beam wasted little time in advancing on Zeratul, who still sat back calmly and released his tiny Psi ball towards the beam of death. The two collided and Verto watched his beam struggle a bit, so he added more power quickly. The white Psi ball increased in size and absorbed the ki power from the beam, advancing faster and getting bigger.

_What the hell kind of technique is that? _Verto wondered, as he sensed no extra release from Zeratul. He shut off his beam and watched the ball get rather big, then suddenly shrink down to where it was before once all the power from his beam was gone, shimmering slightly and slowing coming towards him. Zerg-Verto cocked his head slightly in confusion, until the ball suddenly advanced quickly as Zeratul edged it forward with a mighty shout.

"FEEDBACK!" The ball hit Verto and vanished instantly. Verto looked at himself, unscathed, before laughing slightly.

"What the hell was that supposed to be? Yeah, it looked flashy, but come on! Your fists worked better than that did! You are a crafty old one, but it's time to put you to bed!" Verto shouted, powering up again. Once his aura appeared, he suddenly dropped to his knees in pain. White lightning surrounded his body and struck through it constantly, causing him to stop and shake a little at each bolt. It covered him head to toe and stabbed through every part of him.

"W-What?" he asked. Zeratul walked up slowly with a menacing looking glare, but said nothing. Verto tried to power up again, but his body shifted and jolted him again in more pain the more he tried. The white lightning around him increased in intensity when this happened.

"What the hell was…was that?" he asked himself while struggling.

"A technique designed to stop those with too much power from becoming worse than a cold-blooded murderer. The more power you try to use, the more your body will damage itself until you either die or change your ways!" Zeratul explained calmly. Verto heard this too late and tried to power up all the way to Super Mystic, screaming in pain as his hair flashed silver once before his power dropped again. _There must be some counter to this, but what?_ He thought as he cringed and continued to struggle while Zeratul and the other Protoss looked on.

-

Kerrigan and Daggoth looked on from their respective places, neither really liking what they were seeing.

"_I told you Daggoth, this Dark Templar's abilities are obviously more than he can handle!_" Kerrigan said.

Daggoth was slightly surprised at this turn in events, "_Incredible though isn't it? The Templar's powers are far weaker than the boy's, yet still manages to take him down with minimal effort. No wonder the Overmind wanted them gone so quickly!" _

"_Yeah, enough staring Daggoth. What shall we do about this?_" Neither got to answer that question, until orders came in from another.

"_Kerrigan, Daggoth, it's obvious the boy is far to weak to handle these Dark Templar on his own. I may have put too much faith in his limited ability, unleash the entire swarm upon these Protoss fools! Show them the fury of the Zerg!" _Both gasped slightly at this sudden order, but executed it all the same. The thousands of Zerg in the surrounding area started moving in. Alarms blared all over the Protoss base as soldiers scattered back to their respective stations, many getting ready to fight off the Zerg in the open, others in between large buildings. The Zerg air forces began to swarm in the air, turning the sky into shades of purple and blue. Since Kerrigan and Daggoth had been sidelined for a time, they had been able to call upon their other Hive clusters to send in reinforcements to add to their own, making a substantial force. The Protoss base came alive with Psi powered laser beams and energy balls pouring into the sky, striking many Zerg but also missing many. Whatever did strike the flyers turned them into falling carcasses. Those bounced off some of the building shields, but crushed Protoss soldiers because of the weight. Overlords dropped ground troops in before they were shot down and soon it was a war zone all over the base.

Zeratul and the incapacitated Zerg-Verto remained at the ground entrance, Verto still struggling from the Feedback technique. Zeratul looked on, confused slightly.

"Tell me child, were you always this evil?" Zeratul asked. Verto managed to glance at him with his own confused look.

"Yes at one time I was a pacifistic weakling, not quite sure how I got so much power from that boring life. That big ugly octopus let me out into the real world for some fresh air, and that wimpy goody two-shoes is gone forever," he said, still trying to at least get to his hands and knees. The other Dark Templar looked on as Zeratul was trying to think this out. Then the Zerg ground forces came rushing in from the valley, something Verto had not noticed yet.

"What, no! This is my fight, stay out of it!" Verto shouted angrily. The white lightning erupted even worse when he growled at the Zerg. Some of the Dark Templar and Zealots rushed past him to take on the Zerg, engaging Kerrigan's ground forces not a tenth of a mile away.

"Damnit! You will pay for interrupting a Saiyan's battle! I'll kill you myself!" Verto snarled again as he caught full look at the base being beaten on. Another Templar came running up, and Verto caught a familiar look of him.

"Prelate Zeratul, our base has taken heavy damage, we must escape before the Zerg overwhelm us. Our pylon clusters will not be able to keep the auto defense systems up for long!"

"Fine, Artanis, order the evacuation. We shall escape through the mountain passes and caves, meet up in area six-zero-four!" Artanis nodded and headed off while Zeratul looked back at the grounded Verto, who was barely struggling with the deadly technique now. He was looking more like a defeated warrior who was waiting for the finishing blow.

"Damn Zerg, better hope I don't live or I'll blow them all to Hell and back!" he whispered loudly. Zeratul caught this little declaration and seemed to think it over.

"I thought you were allied with the Overmind, or is this more of a control that it has over you?" he asked. Verto glanced up, not truly caring what this Dark Templar believed, but was also willing to give a truthful answer.

"Apparently your old ears missed it earlier. I despise the Overmind and the Zerg, something that has not changed since being freed from my cage so to speak. I am none too fond of you Protoss either. My, other self, suffered at your hands and it was passed on to me," he explained in a pitiful tone. Other Dark Templars ran up to Zeratul, waiting on his orders.

"We must escape Prelate Zeratul, the Zerg will have this base completely overrun in a matter of minutes and we will not be able to escape without notice. We should either finish off the boy or leave him for the Zerg!"

"It's not him they are after, but in any case…" Zeratul started to say, bringing his blade to Verto's neck. Verto closed his eyes, waiting for the killer blow. Zeratul's green blade flashed once and the white energy that was shocking and crippling Verto then lifted and flashed into the sword. Zeratul then snapped his hand to the right, shooting the white ball into the mountainside and making it dissipate.

"No Prelate, don't let him go!" Upon hearing this Verto was on his feet in an instant, looking himself over and scanning his own energy. It was completely fine like nothing had happened at all.

"But, why did you let me go?" he asked. Zeratul didn't answer, as a pack of Zerglings came up from behind the group. Verto noticed them first, and snarled in rage. One ki beam took care of the small pack before he turned and saw the swarm that was either attacking or circling the air above the base. Verto powered up and screamed in anger, shooting up to Super Mystic and blasting off into the air. Zeratul watched in curiosity as several large explosions went off as the Protoss buildings were destroyed. In the air however, Verto was tearing through Zerg that wouldn't fight him back, making the ability to kill them become even faster. He probably used his hands and feet to kill several hundred of them in a few minutes before descended about halfway to the ground and stopping. His aura relit and expanded into a large field of clear energy that encircled him and expanded outwards rapidly into a large sphere. It passed through nearly all of the Zerg in the base and stopped at the canyon walls, not ten feet away from Zeratul and the Dark Templar, but missing them. The field vanished just as all of the Zerg suddenly dropped to the ground and died, many of the weaker Zerg strains simply exploded on the spot and showered their area in blood.

"What incredible power this boy has," Zeratul noted as he retracted his hand from feeling the concentrated energy ahead of him.

"We should be leaving Prelate Zeratul, there are still many more Zerg around and most of our forces have either perished or escaped!"

Zeratul nodded, "Yes of course, let's get going!" The small troop started towards a small cave on the sidewall of the canyon, which was littered with many Zerg and some Protoss bodies. They were just a few feet from the cave when Verto dropped in behind them, still in his Super Mystic state and looking like he had seen better mood swings. His eyes were flashing bright blue every few seconds and his determined face looked even more deadly. He held up his palm and charged a teal-green energy blast, one being mixed of ki and Psi. Unless Zeratul had another trick up his sleeve, it would kill them for sure. Zeratul stepped back towards him and stared at him hard, a glare in which Verto returned without firing.

After a minute of silent treatment Zeratul dared to speak up, "Well, what is it going to be then boy?" Verto gave him another hard stare, but this time dropped out of Super Mystic and lowered his hand.

"Do what you wish, that's one for one. I'll maintain honor for this time only, but don't expect any mercy next time!" With that said Verto took off into the air in the general direction of Kerrigan's hive cluster.

"I still believe that boy to be an enemy Prelate," one Dark Templar said softly.

"For now yes, however his objectives may be the same as ours. He is definitely the source of the Psionic distress call we picked up on. We may have been too late to help him for now, but he may yet prove to be a strong ally in the future. Let us depart before more Zerg arrive!" The group then entered the mountain cave and vanished into the darkness.

**Next time on DBV: The Overmind grants Zerg-Verto another chance at destroying the Dark Templar, and he rests and prepares for the next onslaught. Meanwhile, the Z fighters continue their journey through space and stumble upon a transmission from the Protoss home world regarding Aldaris. Whatever the evil Templar has in mind, it can't be good, next time!**


	26. Second Chance

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 25: Second Chance**

"_As misguided as you are about your Saiyan pride and honor, Verto, I didn't fully expect you to defeat all of those Protoss on your own. I needn't remind you of that battle!"_ The Overmind began, surprisingly gentle sounding. Kerrigan was expecting an explosion; Daggoth was expecting an instant death and Zerg-Verto didn't know what to expect. All of them were slightly surprised at what he said next.

"_All in all, you will be given a second chance. Your miscued assault against our forces also destroyed many of the worthless Protoss at the time and severely cut them down to minuscule numbers, scattered and defeated. You will find them close to an old stone watchtower carved by this planet's previous inhabitants. Exterminate them immediately and you may yet keep your free will. Failure will result in severe punishment!_" These words brought relief to Kerrigan, until Verto answered without thinking it over.

"_Like you could punish me you overgrown shitbird!"_ He was instantly bent over in paralyzed pain.

"_Do not assume that your powers will save you every time, you still have a lot to learn, boy!"_ After a minute or two of agony, the hold was lifted and the connection was cut, ending with Kerrigan helping Verto up. He brushed her off once on his feet, but didn't lash out.

"Okay, where's the stone tower at?" he asked right away.

"Hold on Verto, you're not in any shape to go now! Your power supply is too exhausted now, you may deny it but I can sense it! You should rest for at least a day before going out there!" she suggested.

"Apparently your senses don't work. I have more than enough power to fight them all twice, plus your little swarm of bugs!" he claimed. Kerrigan frowned but didn't retaliate.

"Perhaps you don't sense anything wrong. That would be because of how fast the Zerg cells regenerate your ki power. However your Psi energy is different and takes some time to build up again since you still aren't used to it, despite what you say. Your ki alone may not be enough against the Dark Templar, and you should never rush into any battle unprepared, unlike **last** time," she emphasized the last few words, making him frown harder.

"Fine, is there anything decent to eat around here?" he asked.

**Interlude: Tassadar's ship**

"Well, how long till we get there?" The Saiyan prince asked for the fifteenth time that day. Krator frowned at his impatience, but he was getting used to it.

"Just about twenty-two hours from now, give or take a few minutes!" he said a little loud, getting Vegeta's attention but not holding it.

"Inform me when twenty-two hours are up, I'll be training until then! Come on you two!" Vegeta said to Fasha and Tora, who had been training with him for that day. Over the past few months she had primarily been at his side most of the time, mostly because he demanded it. Why was a good question, she didn't know. It certainly wasn't for anything abnormal other than hard training.

"Sire, we will be able to save the kid?" Tora asked.

"I don't know, we'll find out when we get there. Kakarot mentioned an evil presence within his energy, however yesterday he sensed it was a little more pure than before, meaning lacking a Zerg influence. I can only guess that the Overmind is having trouble controlling him, assuming he is at all," Vegeta said, looking a little concerned.

"Should we confront him, will we need to kill him, or simply get him down and out?" Tora asked, glancing at Fasha who stiffened a little.

"Simply getting him down and out may not work. But he isn't as strong as Kakarot and myself at Super Saiyan three, never mind Gohan, and there is always fusion for you and Bardock. I'd say there is little to worry about as long as he doesn't try to blow up the planet. I am more concerned with the possibility of fighting him and all of the Zerg at the same time. Tassadar mentioned more Cerebrates were now active. There are not that many Protoss warriors on this ship, so that may become a problem. But after what we saw out of Gohan back on Earth, they will be quickly nullified should they attack."

"What about me sir? I can fight to!" Fasha said, completely missing the point.

"I don't doubt your ability girl, however the emotional baggage that will get involved will not allow you to fight him. His full power is once again higher than yours by quite a bit, you will not join us in battle!" Vegeta said sharply.

Fasha kept her head down to this order while biting her lip, "Yes sir!" Vegeta noticed the reaction and anticipated it, fumbling with his gloves momentarily.

"So when we get there, should we go out and search first?" Tora asked as Gohan came walking up.

"What's up guys?" Gohan asked.

Vegeta ignored his rival's son, "No need, he will more than likely come to us. We should however protect the ship as best we can, it'll be our only ride off that rock!"

"Oh, are you guys talking about what to do with Verto?" Gohan asked the obvious.

"What gave it away boy?" Vegeta sneered.

"Well, you guys might want me to handle that. Dad and I felt him get up to full power yesterday and I think he may be higher than Dad and you at Super Saiyan three!" Vegeta growled slightly at the fact that Gohan had the nerve to point that out in front of other Saiyans, but didn't argue the point.

"It doesn't matter, he can't take us all by any means!" Vegeta claimed.

"I don't know Vegeta, if he's partially Zerg now then he might be able to regenerate himself very quickly. Borgos was like that, honestly I think Verto was lucky to kill him!" Gohan countered.

"Well then, boy, I guess it's all on your shoulders now isn't it? Careful not to choke under the pressure!" Vegeta mocked back, shutting Gohan up as they entered the gravity room. He carefully pulled his armor off so he was only wearing his spandex suit. Dropping the armor at a bench, he then removed a small vial of blue fluid from his gloves. He glanced back at Fasha to see if she was looking before placing the vial under his armor.

**-**

Back on the bridge, Krator was going over the latest scans of Char, getting a little confused on how many Psionic signatures he was picking up.

"Executor, I am getting a high number of Psionic sources from Char but lower in energy output. My guess is that some of our brethren are there now!" Tassadar glanced up at this and seemed to think it over.

He stood up, "Krator, tap into the Protoss communications network and scan for any and all distress calls sent out from Char! Let's see how many have been recently sent!" The computers beeped for a few seconds.

"I've got two different ones, one of them was from an escape pod from Aldaris' ship after he left, requested interdimensional recall back to Auir at the earliest possible time. We haven't detected his ship for several days so that must have been granted. The other was sent...yesterday? Checking identification number, sent by Praetor Artanis!"

"Artanis, I should have known he would get involved sooner or later. More than likely he answered Aldaris' distress call and tried to take on the Zerg with his own fleet. As young and stalwart as he is, he is still naïve. Was there any response from Auir on this?" Tassadar asked.

"Yes there was, sent by Aldaris, it says find your own way home!" Krator read off.

"Humph, it figures he would turn his back on another just he did us. Anything else in there Krator?" Tassadar asked again.

"One more thing, there is a special coronation ceremony being held on Auir today!"

"Coronation? Of who?"

"High Executor...? Aldaris?!"

"Patch it in, and record it for the Saiyans, they may want to see it! I'd call them back up here now, but I've had about all I can stand of Prince Vegeta for today," Tassadar sighed.

"He is quite impatient isn't he? Coming in now sir!" Krator said.

**Interlude: Aldaris' rule**

"Fellow comrades, the day has come for the Conclave's rule to end! Their dictatorship is costing us this war against the Zerg. They are always…no that's not it, damnit. What is a good speech for this type of event?" Aldaris asked himself in his private quarters. The past week didn't start off too good, but finished flawlessly. His defeat at the hands of Verto was hard to stomach. His artificial arm and leg constantly reminded him of the fight, and left a new thought process in his head. His body would never be able to compensate for Saiyan strength, nor would he be able to use it well anymore. He knew that he was very fortunate that he had that much left after he saw what the boy could have done to him. He didn't care though, he had been mastering his powers as of late, and now he felt he could take the Saiyan and the Zerg by himself, no contest. He knew he could strengthen himself to be more than fast enough, at least to dodge the heavier attacks. He just needed to remember not to let his guard down and keep the heat on his enemies; otherwise he could be beaten again. Mastering his powers again took its toll on his crew though, as he blew up their small ship while experimenting. He managed to get to an escape pod before the hyper drive blew up, no doubt partially because of Frost's little gift to them. On the pod however, he could use the long-range transmitter without fear of it blowing up. This got him an inter-dimensional recall back to Auir in no time.

Once back on Auir, he set about sewing the seeds of his own ascension to ruling power. At first the Conclave were accepting him into a new seat on their council, until he mentioned replacing Chancellor Zorbon as the Conclave leader and spokesperson. Many guards were called to remove Aldaris from the chamber at that time. After they were vaporized, the council was a little more willing to listen to what he had to say. Now the ceremony to crown himself High Executor was about to commence, but he was struggling with making a speech, something rare for him.

"Great Aldaris, I have received word that the Conclave counsel has left the Senate. All of them have returned to their provinces and are stepping down it seems!" an aid said as he bowed and entered.

"What a shame, I was hoping they would stick around a little longer to see my rise and their fall. Pity they didn't want to wait for it!"

"What about the Zerg on Char? Shouldn't they be dealt with? After all, Praetor Artanis was well respected, and showed much devotion to your and Executor Tassadar's leadership!" Aldaris frowned when he heard Tassadar's name.

"Artanis was a loyal subject, however he has always followed Tassadar's teachings. As a follower of Tassadar, he must be terminated. I shall let the Zerg handle that on that barren planet. As for the Zerg, their time will come. I will personally see that our great fleets are ready to destroy them soon enough. However today is different! The grand celebration of my ascension will not be tarnished with the taint of Tassadar!"

"What is the nature of these great powers you have developed?" the aid asked out of curiosity.

Aldaris frowned a bit, but shook it off, no doubt others were as interested as he had been. He had considered the possibility of teaching other Templars how to break the barriers of their own powers and access the true power of the Protoss. The only problem was that a lot of them were more talented than he was, and potentially more powerful. He didn't need other Protoss rising up to overthrow him, therefore he chose not to do this.

"They are ancient arts that I…acquired, in order to combat the Saiyans of Earth. They are very difficult to master and require much sacrifice! I am the only son of Auir that will be able to bear it! My artificial limbs are a testament to that, a lesser Templar would have died!" he lied.

"Ah, I understand. May your guidance lead us all to greatness!" the aid bowed again. Aldaris turned back to the mirror and contemplated his speech again, scowling when he noticed the aid hadn't left yet.

"Is that all?" he asked calmly.

"Pardon Great One, but if the Conclave has disbanded, that leaves only the High Executor in charge of the entire Protoss empire. Does it not?" the aid asked.

Aldaris grinned, "Why it does! Pity!"

**-**

A couple of hours later, Aldaris stood in the middle of the very large Senate dome. He was surrounded by thousands of Protoss of all kinds. Mostly high Templar nobles, many Zealot warriors as well as Dragoon guards. He himself was buzzing with excitement, even more so when he saw that eight seats in front were vacant, those belonging to the Conclave members of each of the upper Protoss tribes on Auir. Despite his distaste for lesser Protoss tribes that weren't all that high on nobility, wealth and power, he knew that he would have to appeal to them if he were to win the support of the people of Auir as a whole. He waited for the entire Senate to fill up, as it would be inappropriate to start without as many as possible. It amused him that there was still a Senate, despite the fact that the Conclave was the ruling body. More often than not the Senate suggested an improvement to standing law, only for the Conclave to reject it within a few minutes. Many higher voices objected to their dictatorship-like rule for years, but with all of the tribes of Auir involved in the Conclave, it would never be disbanded without a massive civil war. Before that happened though, the Zerg appeared, and that united the Protoss. Even though they still had some general border disputes from time to time, all of which were taken care of by the Conclave after their formation. Aldaris smiled, he would now truly unite them. He held his arms to quiet the crowd, in which they did right away.

"Citizens of Auir, Protoss all around the sector on colonized worlds! As many of you know, I have become the first High Executor in many centuries. This is due to another lacking ruling body that simply cannot rule our race any longer!" The crowd grew very silent at these words.

"For centuries our people have squabbled with each other even in peaceful times! The lower classes always arguing with the higher classes, and vice versa, and of course the middle class keep getting involved as well! We have never had much peace between our different tribes. The Conclave is no different! They are like another tribe that was supposed to interpret the wishes of the people, when all they gave rise to was their wealthy driven bureaucrats!" A few nods of disgust followed, some booing could be heard.

"It is their greedy lifestyle that is costing us the war against the Terran Dominion and the Zerg! As the Terrans and Zerg fight it out in the Koprulu Sector, one fact has become clear to me about their victories against ourselves and against their other enemies. Before the Terran Dominion came to be, the Terran Confederacy and the oppressed colonies were very weak and vulnerable. Mengsk's defeat of the Confederacy and the unification caused the balance of power to shift in their favor. Our countless victories over the Zerg became erratic at best thanks to the interference of the Terrans. The reason is because the Terrans and Zerg are one unified force fighting one another rather than a bunch of squabbling tribes trying to best each other. They fight for their entire race, and thus can gain ultimate victory even in the face of overwhelming power. That is what we must do, we must fight as one unified race!" A deafening cheer suddenly erupted and Aldaris smiled, he knew he had done it.

"As of this day I declare that all tribes are disbanded and all of Auir shall be under one banner! No Protoss shall make war on another, we will crush our enemies and traitors beneath our feet like common waste. Nothing will compare to our overwhelming might, the Zerg and the Overmind will finally be destroyed and the Terrans will be eliminated in my name!"

The crowd then shouted together in a makeshift chant, "Hail High Executor Aldaris, HAIL!"

-

Tassadar pressed a button and cut the transmission, disgusted.

"He's really done it now hasn't he, but the only thing this will lead to is a massacre. He will be leading them all to their own deaths," he mused.

Krator looked a little confused, "But Executor, if all of Auir unites against the Zerg, their forces will be decimated under the combined might of our great fleets!"

"You're missing the point, do you recall the ancient history of the wars with the Zerg?" Tassadar asked his assistant.

"Of course sire, it's a required study at the Citadels of Adun!"

"Then you might recall the time in which Auir was united against the Zerg, and which a massive attack was made against the Overmind and its swarm. Did you study that?"

Krator looked indifferent, "It was a lesson on not to underestimate the Zerg, as the entire grand fleet vanished after engaging the Zerg. One Protoss tribe was exiled from Auir on belief of sabotage, but I know not of which one!"

"That is close to correct. The story is thus: The swarms were crushed by the superior firepower of the grand fleet under High Executor Vermillio, an interesting name chosen for a Protoss mind you. That aside, the Overmind was pinned down and hit constantly but it just would not die. Then something strange happened, all of the Zerg that had been destroyed were then revived all over the planet and in space. In an organized battle, the grand fleet would win easily. However the Zerg appeared everywhere, even between ground soldiers. In essence the fleet destroyed itself by friendly fire. However, the High Executor still believe the battle to be won, and pressed the remaining fleet to kill the Overmind. The tribe in question protested furiously and left that planet in search of another way to kill it. Their tribe was banished from Auir on rule of the Conclave, never to be seen again, and their existence was erased from the ancient history of the Protoss. This is probably why you had never heard of them. I was very young when I heard of it from an elder."

Krator was beyond confused now, and had a few questions now, "Why is Vermillio such a strange name for a Protoss warrior and who were the other tribe? Why was their existence erased from the Templar archives?"

"In the Ancient language of Adun, Vermillion means on the verge of collapse, or at the breaking point. All of which nearly describes what has happened to our race since that fateful day a thousand years ago. Funny thing is that Aldaris is a direct descendant of Vermillio. As for the tribe in question...well, there is much to tell there. They were not quite the same as most Protoss, they were more like distant relation, but were similar enough in beliefs, honor and attitude. They were superior warriors to all other tribes and many believed that if they had stayed with the High Executor, the Overmind would have been long since destroyed. Even though it probably would not have mattered. As I said it was difficult to refer to them as simply Protoss or Templar. Their energies were very different to ours, and yet similar, like a missing link was discovered. They were called the Dark Templar!"

-

Light years away, upon the planet Char, the Overmind stirred under the transmission, "Yes Aldaris! You...you and your race will soon be mine. You have now made it easier for me. As I expected, your flawed race will unite under your banner, and then fall at my feet! I shall come for you soon! First...I have some Saiyans to deal with!"

**A/N: Oh, Aldaris has done it now hasn't he? Can anyone say 3-way war, **_**AGAIN**_**?**

**Koprulu Sector**- a vast area of space where the Terran and Zerg colonies are, including most of the Dominion and planet Char. Auir is in another Sector nearby, hidden from the other two races.

**Vermillion-** it actually means the color Red according to the dictionary. The song is epic though, and the song is just the way it sounds: On the verge of collapse.

**Next time on DBV: Good Verto awakens inside of his own mind and encounters the Cerebrate once again. The Cerebrate helps him understand what has occurred and he attempts to figure out how to escape this prison. Evil Verto proceeds to seek out the Protoss and destroy them, unaware that his counterpart has awoken.**


	27. Cerebrate's Purpose

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 26: Cerebrate's Purpose**

I stirred from my black slumber. That last thing I remembered was being knocked out by that darker version of me. I hadn't really understood what was going on when he knocked me out, but I had the just of it. I had a dreamless sleep, so for me time passed very quickly. But it bothered me to no end, I hated dreamless sleeps even more than nightmares. I thought I was on the ground, but I felt to be vertical next to a wall and not standing on anything. I opened my eyes to see a bright viewing glass much like the one I had been watching before. It wasn't even ten feet away. I tried to reach out and touch it only to see that my hands and feet were bound to the wall by dim energy binds, not unlike the kind that Vegeta used. I groaned as I tried to move, the short fight with my other self hadn't been without pain.

"Feeling a little better?" a voice asked. I snapped my head to the right to see the source of the voice. There I saw what appeared to be my other self again. Much like before he was the spitting image of me right down a few of the body scars I had. The only thing was his skin was now a deep purple in color.

"Who are you?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes some. "I see that his blows did some damage to your brain, but then again I've changed a bit since I first came in here."

"Cerebrate?" I asked, gasping slightly. I hadn't expected it.

"Bingo. When I fused with your mind for that short time, some of your traits passed on to me. That's why my appearance has changed a little, and we're still in a pickle as you can see," he said. That's when I saw he was bound to the wall as well.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"Not much right now, sort of depends on you and your evil self," he said, drawing my attention again.

"Evil self, huh? What is he exactly?" I asked.

"Haven't figured it out yourself eh, it took me a little while too. But I was digging through some of your memories and his, I think I have the answer, although his acquired memories are almost identical to yours with the exception that they didn't start until after your little accident with Trunks. He may possibly be what you would have become had Future Trunks and Bulma not interfered with your development not long ago. Everyone has an opposite side to them that remains buried most of the time. This opposite is often an extreme build up of negative emotions and energy. Since you and those like you rarely use negative emotions to run your every day lives, it can sometimes build up on you and eventually release itself. The typical release though is just an angry outburst, nothing like this. From what I can tell he has all of your powers but none of your good heart. This is very odd since Old Kai said only a pure spirit could control this stuff. I don't know how that is, but that's how it goes I guess," he explained. I blinked slightly; he sounded so much like me.

"When I said I picked up your traits I wasn't kidding okay? And frankly how do you Saiyans put up with so many memories in such a small mind? It's so difficult for you to access all of them. Another mystery of the universe I suppose," Cerebrate said.

"Go on about this other me please," I said, frowning.

"Well before we joined, I warned the Overmind that I may not be able to completely merge with you without repercussions. Seems I was correct, although he may have wanted or expected this, I'm not sure. Anyway, this evil self's memories have told me that he's been locked away in your mind since that incident with Trunks and the age alteration. Perhaps he could only emerge in your adult form, or perhaps when your mind was in a weaker condition without all the barriers you had developed. A strong mind doesn't break easy, so some sort of high stress would have been introduced for it to crack like this," he said, glancing around.

I scowled even more, "Well high stress seems to be what big ugly and yourself excel in!" He gave me an odd look, a cross between a frown and a smirk, only one I could have made as well.

"Guess you didn't listen that intently when I told you earlier. Kerrigan and I planned this a long time ago so you could kill the damned Overmind. But you're the one who resisted and caused this to happen, it's just as much your fault as it is mine. We were going to help you master your new powers quickly so you could take him down, but noooo! So enjoy this mess, you're in it too!" He practically shouted at me.

"Well, you could have told me sooner!" I shouted back.

"Mind-to-mind communication with you was not going to work well, he is always watching, especially you. He knew about our plan much more quickly, thanks to you. Always asking questions...but enough of that. I should get back to my tale about your evil self. When Trunks turned you back into an adult, do you remember your spell of insanity spilling in? Do you recall your head spinning like crazy and a lot of angry outbursts?"

If I could have smacked my head I would have, "Yeah, like it was yesterday."

"It might have been just the fact that you skipped so many years so quickly, but I think that might have been your evil self trying to break out, He was too slow and Old Kai caught him in time while he was releasing your power. A probable reason why your Psi powers were not released right away it seems. He feared that the evil one would break out if you didn't accomplish it slowly, if you get my drift. So until several days ago that was the case. Then I'm sure you remember the rest," he said, giving me a knowing look. _Yeah I don't need a reminder of that._

"So, I'm like Buu was with his evil side. I get it. Now...what do we do now?" I asked again.

"Wait, I suppose. We can't do much else at this point, and we can plan. He can't hear us here," Cerebrate suggested.

"I thought we were in my mind somewhere. Why couldn't he hear us?" I asked, looking around.

"He is not connected with you anymore. Think of it like that human condition, multiple personalities. While he is in control, we are up here, but he can't access your thoughts just like you can't access his. We can at least see what he sees, which is what the viewing ball is for. He may have made a critical error by linking with me after I got in here, as I now know everything about him just as I do you. What I don't know, is why," Cerebrate explained, confusing me a little more.

"If you know everything about...us, what's stopping you now? Why aren't you trying to take over my body like before?" I asked. He gave me another eye roll, but he seemed to have more patience then I did at the moment.

"Without bothering to explain our plans again, there are two reasons: First, we didn't wish that. Second, I can't do it, simple enough?"

"I suppose," I said, still not trusting him.

"I could only control the amount of Zerg hormones in your genes before, and honestly I held back quite a bit. None of it would have controlled you at all, just minor influence. You are responsible for your own actions as long as you still control them. What we will do for now is watch. Should he give us a chance to escape and take over again, we will figure it out from there. Don't expect anything for awhile, if ever," Cerebrate said, shifting his hands and feet a bit.

"You know, that is real…" I began as he cut me off.

"Real fuckin encouraging, I know, but it's the way it goes."

I blinked sharply again, "Well, you weren't lying when you said you picked up my traits."

"Duh, and if you were really wondering that much, you could have used your senses to tell if I was lying anyway," he beamed at me. I scanned his energy signature the instant he suggested it, revealing two things. He wasn't lying or evil in feel at all, and he was all Psi at the moment. Earlier I thought I had detected some ki within him as well, at least on the outside. _Maybe now that he is locked in here all of it went to my body instead._

"That better?" he asked.

"Slightly, so what all has happened since I've been under? Last thing I recall besides being here was that Terran fleet?" I asked.

"That's something we can do. He is sleeping right now, so his memory is completely open to me. I can show you everything on the globe, and you will be able to sense and feel it all as if you were there, you ready?" Cerebrate asked.

"Do it, I wanna know what this creep has been up to," I said just as the globe flashed so bright that it filled my entire vision.

**Interlude: Raynor**

"Are you sure about this Artanis? I can at least wax some Zerg with you ya know!" Jim Raynor asked. Praetor Artanis and a few of his guards were escorting Raynor away from their base camp on a small transport glider.

"I know you're willing to help us, but we cannot endanger you anymore than we have, and there's a new problem. The young Saiyan is after us now, and he may not let us escape next time. The Terran encampment we detected should have suitable supplies for a ship to escape undetected. If not, you will need to find your own way to survive out here. It is the harsh reality of this sector while the Zerg are running around. I wish we could help each other more," Artanis explained in a solemn tone.

Raynor frowned at the truth, "All right I'll do it, but I will find a way to pay you back for this Artanis. Rather by helping you directly, or your people in battle, it's the least I can do."

"It is appreciated," Artanis nodded as they approached the outskirts of the small camp. Raynor scowled a bit when he saw Dominion flags up, but he could spot no sign of a ship anywhere. Alarms blared upon their approach, until Raynor hopped off the small hovercraft and put his hands up. Artanis and crew immediately hit the thrusters and vanished into the distance, leaving Raynor alone with nothing but his machine gun to face possible enemies.

"Who are you, soldier? Identify!" A marine ordered as a dozen of them ran up, guns pointed at his head.

"Captain Jim Raynor, number one-seven-nine-eight-six-five-two-three!" Raynor recited immediately. The marine pulled a small computer out and processed the number. When he got confirmation of the number, he jumped back a bit and pulled his gun back up.

"Captain Raynor, you do realize you are an outlaw wanted on several counts of treason and assault? The Emperor wants your head on his desk!" the marine recited as he read. Raynor gulped slightly, but wasn't surprised.

"I realize that, however do you know that Mengsk is dead and so is most of the Dominion fleet?" All soldiers in the area looked up and slightly shocked at this news.

"Impossible, how can the entire fleet be destroyed? Even with the all of the Zerg around here?"

"Check your scanners and your radio, have you had contact with any of them since the invasion?"

"Well no sir, we were put on orders for strict observation of this area of the planet, but we haven't even seen a transport or supply ship for days now. They were overdue yesterday," the marine said, a little more shaken now.

"That is because the fleet was destroyed by the Zerg, and the Emperor was killed as well. General Duke is now in charge according to the transmissions the Protoss intercepted. So, Sergeant, can you honestly say you expect a rescue party any time soon?" The marines began to murmur to each other quietly.

"Sergeant Kline, with Duke in charge, none of us are going home!" One said.

"I know, he'll probably quarantine the planet or something and leave us for the Zerg!" said another.

"Exactly," Raynor continued, "Leaves you fellas in quite a predicament, doesn't it?"

"And what do you suggest Captain, team up with you? We'd be branded outlaws for sure!" Kline said with a tone of disgust.

"It's outlaws or your lives, you got a better idea?" The whole team was whispering about it as well, ignoring the Sergeant and pulling their guns down.

"I don't like this Raynor. Besides a bit more manpower, what help could you possibly bring? We have no ship and no supplies. We're stuck the same as you!"

Raynor grinned slightly, "Do you have any land transports and any SCV's Kline?"

Kline stood up a bit more relaxed, "We have a few transports and a full assembly team here, but not enough supplies to build a manageable ship to get off this rock. This is only an observational mission!"

"Well, you're in luck. In return for lead command and your support, I will provide you with my ship!"

"WHAT? You have a ship here, why aren't you off this rock?!" Kline shouted at him.

"It's a busted ship, but repairable, and I have power and supplies. The only problem is its stuck in the edge of Zerg territory," Raynor explained, getting a slight gasp from the others and a scowl from Kline.

"And you want command as well? I'd sooner drop myself in a lava pit then give command to you. What makes you think any of us would follow the example of you, outlaw?" Kline sneered behind the other marines, who seemed interested to say the least.

"Like I said, it's being stuck here or having a shot at going home. Simple choice, I'd say," Raynor said, stepping forward. Only Sergeant Kline pulled his gun up to meet him, until Raynor walked right by him.

"Well, Kline?" Kline was getting several scowls from his troopers, some giving him the hint that he should give in.

And so he did, "Fine, you have command for now, but I reserve the right to revoke it at anytime, outlaw. Once we are out of this mess, I plan to issue a full court martial upon my report back on Korhal, understand? Captain Raynor?" Kline said, giving a salute now.

"We can worry about that when the time comes. Get your scanning equipment up and running. There will be a short window of opportunity coming up and we need everyone here to be ready to take it!"

-

"Well he does take after Vegeta doesn't he?" The Cerebrate asked as I scowled as the viewing ball flickered to a dim light once again.

"The only quality I can stand about him is the fact that he dismantled your Zerg armies in a heartbeat," I said.

"They aren't mine anymore Verto, you should know that by now."

"And how do I know that? For all I know you could still be lying about everything and the Overmind is just trying to tempt me or what not. All of this is nonsense, hell it's probably just a big act to get me to try and get out of here. Your real purpose here is just to play with my emotions to do that, isn't it?" I wasn't sure why I said all of that, by this time my trained mind wasn't behaving rational and I knew it. I took a deep breath to try to calm down a bit, I wasn't thinking clearly and that wasn't like me at all.

"Once you've calmed down, you should figure out that if that were the case, why would the Overmind be waiting when you're clearly out of the picture and obviously easily within it's grasp at the moment? My true purpose in this realm hasn't been with the Overmind, though my life took form through him," the Cerebrate said with a strange smile on his face.

I went from not thinking clearly to totally confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Listen Verto, you need to realize that you have a bright future ahead. But unless you decide to take that path, you're not going to get anywhere with it. I was sent to be your guide through this particular time. My superior saw that you would struggle with your development and sent me to assist you. However that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you everything you want to know or do anything for you, it's not my place. But I will help you in your time of need," he said in complete truth. I couldn't see any lies coming from this creature now, but I was still very confused.

"Who is your master?"

"Sorry, that is a secret you will have to figure out someday. That someday has to come for your destiny to be realized, just trust my words. As your guide I cannot interfere with any of your actions or choices, I can only offer advice," he said with a distinctive frown on his face. I began to understand what he meant by all this. That and one fact stood out, I was going to be putting up with him for a while.

"So in your time in here, do you take physical form?" I asked, trying to stick a question in which he could answer.

"Not anymore, I will reside in the reaches of your mind. Only summoned when needed or when I choose. Unless of course something changes drastically, but that is out of my hands," he said.

"Well now that we have some of that added to all of this confusion, I'll ask you again. How do we get out of here, or in either case, get loose?" I asked. I promptly fell to the black floor and rubbed my now barely sore behind. I glanced up to see the Cerebrate was now on his own feet, grinning like an idiot.

"You needed only to ask, glad you figured some of this shit out," he said.

I glared sharply, "So you are keeping me up here, why? If you're supposed to be my guide and all…" I began to rant before he held up a hand to silence me.

"No, I am not keeping you up here by any means. When your dark side came out, he took over your body. You will have to find a way to take it back over and purge his presence from your body to be completely free of him. Knowing you, you'll find a way to do it. It won't be easy though, because he is stronger than you are," he said, pausing as he sat against the wall and closed his eyes.

"How can he be stronger? I can understand being equal, but stronger? Based on what?" I asked sharply.

"He feeds off negative emotions, something you Saiyans have been known to use to defeat your enemies. Your greatest weapon in battle becomes your greatest flaw in your mind! Not only that, but when your body was returned to child form by the great dragon Shenron, it was filled with negative energy. It's this energy that has made him stronger than you now that he is free!" Cerebrate said with deep seriousness. I glanced down; he was right about all of it, probably even the dragon wish.

"Well, can't you give me at least a hint on how?" I asked in desperation.

"No, but the answer can't be that far from your view. Oh look, he's awake," Cerebrate said as he pointed to the viewing ball, that had lit up as two eyes had opened, only it showed them as one.

"Great, let's see what he's up to," I said, crossing my arms and watching.

**Interlude: Evil Verto**

Zerg-Verto rose and stretched slightly, working a few kinks out of his neck. He had slept quite well, something he didn't think was possible. Ever since he could remember, all he had was dark dreams and nightmares, though he was never scared of them. His mind had replayed the events of the past few days a little, but nothing more than a refresher. Once fully awake he refocused himself on the task at hand, given to him the previous night. He reached out and sensed a distant presence of Psi energy, a little faint, but there nonetheless.

"Get ready Zeratul, you and your brethren's destruction is at hand," he grinned. The wall opened up just then and Kerrigan walked in, a darkened frown on her face when she saw he was up.

"I suppose you need something to eat?" she asked in a disgusted tone.

"Not necessary right now woman. What's your issue today?" he sneered back eagerly. Kerrigan was taken aback by the quick response to her gloomy mood, but shrugged it off.

"Just seeing to it that you don't fail today. You-know-who is probably not going to give you another chance to kill off the Protoss on this planet!"

"Oh please, Zeratul and his little band are as good as dead. I may have slightly underestimated them last time, but they stand no chance against my power. Go tell your master that he can expect news of their death soon!" Kerrigan's eyes narrowed, Verto was different today. Arrogant yes, but slightly different.

"Tell me Verto, how did you sleep?"

A clueless expression hit his face quickly, but faded just as fast, "Decent, your floor was a little slimy, and you could make do with a decorator around here," he smirked as he spoke. Kerrigan expected the cocky answer and chose to instead scan his mind a little more while he was speaking, hoping he wouldn't catch on.

Upon picking a very small signal up, she grinned back, "Well that can't be helped, after all I thought you monkeys only cared about fighting?"

Verto growled a little, but kept his resolve, "You're one to talk about that aren't you, with your little bugs running around. Too bad I'm not the exterminator, I'd have an easy time ridding the universe of them! I suppose I could always do that later!" Kerrigan held her breath, hoping he wouldn't pop off on her if she pushed too hard. She wanted him to get a little frustrated, but not too angry just yet, not until the message was sent.

"Want to fight, wench? I could use a little warm up right now!" he dared. Kerrigan frowned, that wasn't the response she wanted to get. _Damn he went back to arrogant mode quick, gotta get him angry so they get the message. I suppose I can risk an explosion, _she thought to herself.

"I don't fight with worthless monkey tailed children. You have a task to complete. I hope a weakling like you can handle it," she said, crossing her arms with a dark glare to show her seriousness. Verto growled right away, she felt him power up a little bit in result. He kept a dark scowl on his face as he rose and left the room. His left hand emitted a quick burst of energy in the form of lightning. It spiraled around his arm for a second or two before he looked at it in question. The energy faded back quickly as he scratched his head in wonder. Kerrigan remained behind until he left. She smirked a little, _the message was received, so he is aware again._

-

"Okay what just happened?" I asked the Cerebrate, who had been watching with a grin. I had felt my other self get angry with Kerrigan for her insult, but I had felt the result.

"Your other side got a little upset, did you feel it?" he said.

"Kind of, yeah, but I haven't felt him at all while up here, other than that little movie you showed me earlier. This felt weird to me though," I said, a little confused about it.

"What did it feel like?" he asked, keeping his beaming grin on me.

"Well, it felt like I could feel my lower left arm again, and some of the air around it," I said, rubbing the back of my head.

"That might be because you did, for a moment that is. Did you feel the energy charge that came with it?"

"Yeah, I did that when I felt it, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. But about the same time that he calmed down I lost it," I said, looking at my own hands in disbelief.

"And what does that tell you then?" he asked. _Geez, it's like asking Mom a question about science, but at least its something I can figure out._ I replayed the feeling a few times with surprising clarity, but being locked in my own mind tended to kill off outside distractions.

Then I had the answer, "He got angry, and he lost a little bit of his control didn't he?"

"Yep, you got it! Wow, you do have a brain up here!" Cerebrate exclaimed.

I frowned right away, "Oh shut up, so if he gets angry he loses his control a little. If he gets really pissed off then I can get my body back?"

"Not exactly, but you're on the right track. Since you're other half was never in total control before, he mustn't lose control over his emotions. Couple that with your being awake again and we may have a partial solution to retaking your body!" he said with his continued grin.

"I'll just wait till he's really frustrated. Then I'll try to power up. Right?" I asked eagerly.

"Hold on, there isn't an exact science to this. I'm not completely sure how this is going to work out. First off, if you can disrupt his control, he could just end up back here and then you two will fight for control again. Even if you win, he would still be free in your mind and could disrupt you again."

I thought about that for a second or two, "Well if he's really angry because of something, that should pass to me. And at the very least I can summon my Super Mystic form even up here, that should balance it out enough for me to figure out how to take him down. Then maybe I can just destroy him myself since he would be back in my mind and not on the outside," I said in hopefulness.

"There's another problem with that plan, your recent trials have shown that your mind is in a very weak state and may not respond well to much more disruption. If neither of you can erect control, you may go out of control like many Zerg do when their master Cerebrate is killed. Your body would be on automatic so to speak, and would not be able to respond to any commands you give it, assuming you're still around," Cerebrate said, frowning a little bit.

"What do you mean, I can beat my own dark side. I've done it before in training and real life. No matter how angry I get, I can still find myself quick enough to get control of my actions," I said with a fist raised.

"Maybe before all this you could, but I seriously doubt that you could now. A fight with your dark side isn't like a normal battle. If one kills the other then you may never be even able to think clearly again. Every mind has a balance in its personality and emotions, upsetting that balance can have bad results. It may seem unbalanced now, but really it has only flip-flopped to the other end of things. The only way you could get rid of him and not risk permanent damage is to truly eject him from your body and not your mind. Technically speaking he is already out of your mind and spirit, but if he is to come back here he will be a part of them again. You see he was given so much negative energy that he has a mind and spirit of his own, just not a body. You would have to get him and yourself to the physical plane where he cannot exist and once outside of your body he would vanish like a ghost!" His little speech got me back to confused real quick as I processed that information.

"Wait a sec, isn't he already in the physical plane, running my life at the moment? What would change about that, and even if I got control again. You just said he would be here, what gives?" I asked.

"Don't quite get it yet? Well I'm not surprised; it is a little technical how damaged minds work with emotions sometimes. This goes back to when you should try and regain control. While he inhabits your body right now, he isn't what you would call locked in, not until you are out of the picture as you've seen. He can't kill you either, as this body would go out of control like I have said, perhaps even die. However, if you were to regain enough control and motor function to invade your own body while he is still there, he would not be able to fight you off. The stronger force would win out and be removed. The trick is to cut off his escape rout back here when you would be struggling for control. Do that and his evil spirit would leave you forever," he finished with a sigh like he was out of breath. It didn't help with my confusion, but that use of language had been more than a bit vague.

"How am I going to cut off his escape rout? It's not like there's a doorway sitting around here?" I asked, glancing around in the blackness.

"Part of that I can answer, it goes along with your theory on just powering up. Once angry or distressed enough, he won't know to try to get back here. All you would have to do is overpower him and your body is yours again and he is as good as gone!" Cerebrate said.

"Why didn't you say that before? You're just wasting time!" I said a little loudly.

"What? And make it easy, no way!" he grinned, but then quickly frowned.

"What's wrong? It was your joke," I pointed out.

He seemed distressed about something, "It's not that. I'm not sure you have enough power to do that, and a struggle could be bad as I've said." I shook my head a little, trying to clear up everything he was saying.

"Look, I can tell you're confused, but it will make sense if you let it. You just have to trust my words, and hope that no one else tries to become involved," he said, sitting on the ground.

"What do you mean?"

"With your weakened mind, and limited control while struggling with this evil spirit, anyone else with any mental abilities could try to influence you to their will. Especially if they were watching and waiting for such an event," he beamed at me with a knowing stare.

I quickly deduced who could do that, "The Overmind! That's his plan for me to be under his control!"

"That's somewhat correct. When a Cerebrate has disputes over what it does with its control over the Zerg, the Overmind has an overruling command over them as long as the Cerebrate lives, and the Zerg would do what he says. However, when Zasz was killed, that brood ran out of control, even though the Overmind was pacified for a short time, he could not control them directly anymore. That's just how it is with Zerg, their lack of general intelligence gives them a slight disadvantage to the ladder of command. With other species though, he can directly control their actions against their will if he so chooses. It takes a great amount of energy for him to do such a thing, so it generally doesn't happen. But either way it would be quite dangerous if you and your dark side fought over your body for too long! If a stronger will were put into play though, neither of you would control this body, remember he has that link set up through your tail!"

"Wait a second, from what I could see, this guy didn't really go along with the Overmind at all. He barely respected him if that, why would he go along with that plan unless….he doesn't know," I paused thinking about that.

_That evil spirit is Saiyan just like me, and must have his own plans like other Saiyans would, like what to do with our power. The Overmind must have known all of this for a long time, and must have made a bargain or something. That's what it seems like to me, and I haven't really been able to sense much more than the Overmind's energy and his overwhelming will power._ _He must have been playing with my mind all along, or at least the deepest reaches of it. I know I wouldn't have gone along with a ridiculous control like that, and nor did Vegeta when Babidi had him under his spell._

"I am still figuring out the details myself, but it seems that the Overmind took our own plans and founded his own in the process. I suspect a similar tactic would have been used with Gohan and the other Saiyans. I'm somewhat surprised that neither Kerrigan nor I thought of all that, aside from the killing thing. Remarkable plan," he seemed to be impressed.

"While you're at it, how could he control me if I were killed? I know he did it with Borgos, but how?" I asked, curious.

"Oh that, well it's a little simpler, but the result isn't the best. Basically when one dies, an order of death comes into play with normal beings. The mind dies first, not completely mind you, but enough to remove consciousness and motor functions. The body still has processes for several days, like hair and fingernails, new cells continue to be produced. Until the spirit of the body's owner is removed by death, which can take some time, the body can easily be taken by another. All that remains is jumpstarting everything before the spirit leaves. Once the spirit is gone, the body is useless unless there is technology involved. One can try to take the body and restart it with say some Zerg regenerative help, but without the spirit to power it. The mind is dead and the body doesn't respond to command, only reaction. It would be like taming a wild animal, only the animal would not learn anything in this case. So the dead possessed body cannot be truly tamed, do you understand?" he asked.

"Barely, so he can revive someone somewhat intact as long as he revives them within that small amount of time?" I asked.

"Yes, under his control. Now here's the interesting part as to why it's better for you to be living then not. When one is revived and infested, a choice is then given to the newly revived life. It can either obey commands given to it, or refuse. To this day I can only think of two that did not refuse, one of course was Kerrigan because she was so mad at the Terrans. Refusals will more than likely have its mind stripped away and crippled as I've said, allowing the Overmind to maintain a small command over a barely thinking brain. Then any command is carried out or at least attempted as it was received. There is no real thinking going along with it, just a mindless minion trying to carry it out. The Overmind can insert a temporary will to take the place of the previous owner, but it doesn't last long. Also it generally doesn't know much other than the commands it was given and how to carry them out in the body. So an infested but dead agent is not the best when the agent doesn't want to be commanded, get it?"

"Yeah you really picked up my traits. I'm sure I could make a speech like that at a moment's notice," I said, my voice dripping with all the sarcasm intended.

"Fine, in Lamin's terms: he prefers willing agents to do his bidding. Your other self is barely that at all as you've noticed. So he made a deal that when they are done conquering the Protoss, he would set him free, no strings attached. I seriously doubt that he will finish it that way, and one way or another, you will be killed and tossed away. The other Saiyans may reach the same result, but then he would be able to kill all of them off and none of you would be a threat anymore. Is that a little easier to understand?" he said, frustrated with me now.

"Somewhat, but in summary I have to regain control of my body and mind quickly. Otherwise he could take direct control of my body during the conflict with that dark spirit, is that right?"

"Yes, it's possible, if it isn't too damaged to that out of control point we spoke of earlier. If its too far damaged, you would be like a Zergling without a Cerebrate," he said, musing a bit.

"Great analogy," I said, rolling my eyes slightly.

"Isn't it though? Well now...what do you suppose he's about to do?" he asked. I glanced up at the large viewing ball to see that my evil self was flying somewhere, looked to be some very rugged terrain.

"I think we are about to find out," I said, standing to observe as he came up to what seemed to be a large watchtower made of stone.

I glanced back at the Cerebrate for a moment, "Hey you didn't say who else didn't refuse the Overmind's help after death, who was it?"

"Oh, that was Borgos, believe it or not. Not really sure what his reasons were other than added strength. This was only what I was told though. Since I wasn't involved with his infestation, there easily could have been some tinkering going on. Enough of that for now, he's about to fight the Protoss again!" I sighed as I turned to the viewing ball again, _this sounds too confusing to be correct, watch its just some test for me._ How I hate being right.

**A/N: A little confusing, but the original chapter was worse in that department. So many little twists and ideas, it'll drive me crazy, I can only imagine the effect on you readers. Its okay if your mind is spinning after reading all that, I would think that should be normal. Even after I went through and edited this, this is how I wanted it to look. It will be given easier language later, and any of you with a trace of intelligence probably get the just of it. Back to simpler things next time, like punches and energy attacks, I promise!**


	28. Plight of the Protoss

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 27: Plight of the Protoss**

Zerg-Verto landed at the bottom of a deep gorge, in which a very large statue had been carved out of one mountainside. It resembled a strange looking warrior with a pickaxe and a shield, but it wasn't Protoss or human be any means.

"Must have been some great weakling, now where are those Protoss?" he said as he scanned around. He didn't feel anything in the area right away, and then noticed that his senses were not getting past the stone. _Hmmm, must be some sort of hardened rock blocking my senses, they keep bouncing around, _he thought, stopping right away. He spotted what looked like a small cave off to the side. After scanning around a bit more, he determined that it might have been the only entrance to the tower, where he suspected the Protoss to be hiding. He had not seen or sensed any yet, and he did not spot any Arbitor-type ships in the air to supply a cloaking field, something he had been warned about before. _Like there are any ships left after that last battle,_ he smirked a little.

As he slowly walked towards the cave, he kept his eyes and ears focused on his surroundings, scanning for any disruption. Several hundred feet above, he sensed some sort of door hissing open and right away sent a weak ki blast at it without looking. The Zealot that was struck didn't even have time to react. The door shut as the warrior tumbled out and dropped to the ground from easily a hundred feet up. Upon striking the ground with a sickening thud, the warrior struggled to get up. Verto was impressed that he lived through all of that, but then realized that the Zealot's shield had probably absorbed most of his blast and some of the impact.

"So, this is where you are all hiding eh? You should have stayed underground instead of hanging around something so obvious, you might have lived longer!" Verto said, kicking the Zealot's head sharply to the side. This only knocked him out, so he reached down and grabbed the Zealot by the neck. Despite having a small hand against a much larger neck, he had no problem breaking it like a toothpick.

"Better tell your gods that your worthless tactics are almost insulting!" Verto spat before stepping harshly on the armor of the warrior, enough to break it open before moving on. He heard more devices going off on the tower, and turned to see many parts of the wall rotating. When the rocks turned, small cannons took their place, about fifty in all.

"Been busy eh...doesn't matter!" All at once the cannons starting firing large balls of energy at Verto at a high rate of speed. He dodged all of them before phasing out and into the air, sending back even more ki blasts. The mountain became a temporary war zone as greetings were exchanged between cannons and Saiyan. The cannon fire stopped and ceased as a large cloud of dust and dirt poured off the tower. When cleared, the statue no longer resembled any warrior, just a raggy mountain.

"So much for his legacy," Verto chuckled as he approached the cave.

**Interlude 27.1: -Artanis and Zeratul-**

"Prelate Zeratul, the Terran child has already destroyed our outer defenses and has entered the cave. At his current pace, he will arrive at the door to the maze within five minutes!" Artanis announced. He and Zeratul were currently seated in a small council chamber set up deep in the mountain, observing the video feed and transmissions from the troops stationed in the fortress.

"Zeratul?" he asked again.

"I suspect he will not show mercy to us this time. This may not turn out to be the shining moment in Protoss history, but I can foresee no other result. We must do our best!" Zeratul said in a low voice.

"Pardon Prelate, but I don't believe this is a fight we can win. He out powers us by a great deal! You admitted that yourself, we should escape! I'm sure that even if we had two hundred Archons sitting at the door he would tear through them like a lava flow," Artanis argued.

"And where would we go should we escape? He has better tracking senses than we realize Young Templar, and the Overmind would detect us very quickly out in the open. We were fortunate in our past encounters with the Zerg as we caught them by surprise. However, they now have all of the moves in their court, where we can only run and hide. We must outwit this Saiyan here and now in order to have a chance against the Zerg. He must still go through all of our troops and the maze, where we can at least buy ourselves some time. Perhaps a weakness can be found, though I seriously doubt he will let me use my Feedback technique on him again. Perhaps in the depths of the mountains, his link will be cut from the Overmind and he can be tamed to our side, but it will be difficult!" Zeratul preached.

Artanis just shook his head, "If memory serves, during our last encounter he destroyed much of the Zerg force willingly, and I remember seeing him having some sort of telepathic argument with the Overmind. But I don't think that will matter, he seems more eager to fight than any being I have encountered before."

"You have a point young one, let us hope you are incorrect in that fact!" Zeratul said, rising from his chair.

"What shall I tell our troops?" Artanis asked one last time as they approached the door.

"Do what they can to avert him! It is unwise to directly block his path, for even the Kalah would not be able to help them!"

-

"Knock Knock, Zeratul!" Zerg-Verto said as he gently rapped on the large door he approached. The hallway in the cave was lit up surprisingly well, but his senses were sharp enough for it not to matter. The door made no sign of opening right away, but slowly creaked open after a minute or so.

"How inviting!" Verto exclaimed as he stepped inside. A dark blue floor lay tiled on the ground, much smoother than the rough terrain just out the door. The walls were the same as the floor in color, and extended all the way up to the ceiling. Ahead there were three different openings in the walls, which turned into turning points and extended into other parts of the cave.

"So it's a maze huh? Interesting challenge you present me Zeratul, but we're going to play this by my terms!" Verto said, turning back to the door. Opening it a little further, he extended a palm and let loose a flurry of small ki blasts into the previous hallway. All of which hit the ceiling and poured large chunks of the mountain onto the floor, making the passage temporarily impassible.

"You can hide all you want. I'll play your little game of hide and seek, but we're not leaving until you and your kind are destroyed. Now let's get started!" Verto said loudly enough to hear the echoes. He proceeded towards the hallway on the left. He turned the first corner only to be met with a Zealot warrior charging him at point blank range. The Zealot's much larger size proved to be a disadvantage as Verto easily ducked under his Psi blades and punched towards his stomach area. His shield flashed and rejected the punch, but Verto then phased out and reappeared behind the warrior in the air. He sent a strong knife hand to the warrior's neck. This broke bones instantly and dropped the Zealot into a dead heap.

"Such an obvious weakness should be outlawed. You would think their technology would give them shields there too," Verto chuckled as he landed and proceeded down the hall, turning right into another warrior. This one was a bright blue mass of energy, one that he had rarely seen, but he knew what it was. It was an Archon, a powerful Protoss warrior that could generate Psi waves much like he could. This one charged ahead and released such a wave. It flew like a small Kamehameha, but missed and hit the walls. Verto punched at it, but his punch wouldn't break through the large energy field the Archon had around itself. Verto flipped over and quickly formed his Psi sword. He was behind the Archon before it could turn around, and then stabbed into his large and potent energy field. Verto heard a gasp from the warrior as he slowly drained his energy away. The sword then shined brighter with all of the energy in it, and the field vanished, leaving the Archon without any energy and without any protection. Verto grinned as he then released all of the energy of the sword right back at the Archon. The bottom half of the Templar body dropped to the ground as the blast burned the top half into nothing.

_It's truly sad when those are supposedly their best fighters. They have potential to be great, what a bunch of weak-minded fools, afraid to use their real power. Oh well, I guess I wouldn't want to have to deal with too many like Aldaris either,_ Verto thought as he continued through this part of the maze.

-

Verto frowned a bit in frustration, he had walked all of the left end and all of the right end of the maze and had only circled his own tracks several times. He knew that because there were often dead Protoss lining them. He guessed he had probably killed eighty of them, maybe more. Mostly with his bare hands, he hadn't wanted to waste any energy if it wasn't needed. They were mostly comprised of Zealots and Dragoon guards, and were dispatched rather easily. There were a few more Archons, but he blew them down in a similar way, and using the sword did not require much if any energy. Now he was back at the entrance to the maze, starring a dagger down the middle hallway, which simply dared him to enter. He levitated a few feet off the ground and proceeded. This time there wasn't a Zealot or any other Protoss waiting around the corners, in which he was more than prepared for. He rounded the corners with no interruptions of any kind, and traveled the area in less than half the time. When he ended up back at the entrance three times, he had tired of this routine. The entire time he was sure they were all watching him from somewhere, but where he did not know.

"Come out Zeratul, otherwise I will bring the whole mountain down!" he said loudly, but not quite as a shout.

"You will have to find me first child, if you really want to prove your worth as a warrior!" the grimly old voice of the Dark Templar came from the maze. At first he jolted towards his left but then stopped when he heard the echoes of the old relic himself. _He is misleading me on purpose, that sound was meant to come from anywhere in the maze, but where?_ Verto scanned around with his senses. He was still picking up on many Protoss agents of various types, but the cave walls and ceiling interfered with it quite a bit, at times giving the illusion of a warrior somewhere when in fact there was not.

_He's certainly not making this easy, he and some of his kind have been moving around me the entire time without my knowledge. Probably when I was engaged with their brethren, making my attention sloppy. Maybe they are cloaked also, that would give me some trouble detecting them. Perhaps I need an outside view of this._ With that thought, Verto closed his eyes and concentrated on the area with his Psi. He cocked a grin at this new ability of his, mostly thanks to his better half being such a quick learner and Kerrigan being such a great teacher. His body appeared in front of him and he willed his view to slowly turn. The halls seemed quiet enough, until he caught sight of a trace of Psi in the center. He quickly followed it with his mind, catching up to a vanishing Dark Templar staring him right in the face. He turned just in time to see another Protoss, this time a Zealot, turning the corner and getting out of easy range.

_So they're confusing me into chasing the ones I see directly, but how are they all moving around like that, even if I am distracted?_ His answer came a few minutes later when he followed another Zealot to a dead end. Once he was sure the coast was clear, he tapped on the wall, and it opened. The Zealot proceeded inside and closed the door behind him so that it looked and felt like a simple wall again. _Parlor tricks, but clever._ Verto returned his senses back to himself and proceeded down the center again, turning the route that the Zealot had just taken and stopping at the dead end. He scanned the wall, looking for the imperfect designs that he should have noticed before had he been looking for them. He found the door very quickly and smashed it open, surprising the hell out of several Protoss right inside of it. After dispatching them, he proceeded into the much darker hallway inside the wall, which looked more like a fallout bunker the further he got into it. He passed by windows of maze rooms he had been in, giving him that slight chill of when someone is watching you and you can't sense them. He came up to one of them and noticed several Protoss in the maze, glancing around in disbelief. There was one Dark Templar with them, but it was with two regular Templars and five Zealots. As he watched he picked up their words easily.

"Where did the child go?" a Templar asked.

"Is there a chance he discovered our secret passages and now travels them as well?" the other asked.

"No, no chance! Our scouts say he was at the temple entrance or engaged with our kin when they enter or exit the passages. We would have known if he had seen them!" a Zealot argued.

"But where is he now, surely he doesn't have some sort of cloaking device does he?"

"I do not know, but we must find where he vanished to before he reaches Zeratul!" All of the eight Protoss then lined up and came straight to him, unknowingly marching to their deaths. Verto lifted a single finger and grinned.

**-**

"The boy is still in the maze! We have lost contact with our remaining warriors there, request reinforcements right away! We must buy as much time as possible for Prelate Zeratul!" Verto heard on the small intercom in the dark hallway. Then he sensed many Protoss coming down, but not close enough to see yet. _Time to play by their rules and be the silent hunter! _He glanced upward to see a series of long pipes, which had a small enough opening for his tiny body to slip through. Once on the pipes, he crawled silently through the remaining Protoss posts without notice, passing many warriors by without a peep. He also suppressed all of his energy as low as possible, so the Templar did not detect him as he had noticed they had that ability. Most of them were panicked about not knowing where he was, giving them the same uneasy feeling that he could strike at them at any moment. _A very fitting feeling for them, I should do this more often!_

He continued down the piping until he came to a stop where the wall came up in front of him. _End of the road, too bad. That felt like at least a mile or two, these Protoss have far too much time on their hands to be making new hiding places!_ Scanning the floor beneath him, he waited until he was sure no one would see him. Jumping down, he spotted a small doorway that led into another large blue tiled room. Upon entering, the door shut behind him right away, becoming one with the wall again. _Well at least someone was expecting me!_ Turning to scan the room, he saw that it was a large arena like room, at least a hundred feet across in either direction, and it appeared to be bowl shaped. Once he got a good shape of the room's layout, someone hit the lights and blackened the room into darkness. He stepped towards the middle, still not sensing much of anything.

_Pitch black to cripple my sight, perhaps they could use their cloak as well, that would hamper things,_ Verto thought as he then closed his eyes to his own darkness. Channeling his Psi again, he used his spiritual vision to get a better look at the room. He saw his form as a small blue aura of energy without his body, much like he would when using any senses to find energy. He then noticed small traces of gray auras barely visible to the best of sight in a circle around him. Eight in all, and closing slowly on him. He quickly opened his eyes and frowned slightly, _time to add some light to this room!_ With a sharp battle cry, he powered up very quickly and hit Super Mystic form, adding a bright silvery white light to the whole room. The sudden power up pushed his enemies back and caused their cloaks to disengage, revealing their forms. They were all Dark Templar, and ahead of him was the leader himself, Zeratul.

"Impressive delay, but that is all it was, a delay. Are you ready to settle this now, Protoss?" Verto asked, crouching down into a stance.

"Why is it you listen to that cursed creature when you have so much potential to follow other paths? You should be cut off from that thing now, so your will is your own here!" Zeratul began.

Verto looked perplexed at that statement, but didn't drop his guard, "Look I told you before, I don't really like the arrangement, but at the moment it beats what I had before. After you and the other Protoss are destroyed he is to set me free, then I will deal with him accordingly. Until then, know your place!" Verto growled, keeping his anger in check and watching all of the warriors in the room.

"Perhaps you are the one who does not know his place, do you honestly think the Overmind would set a weapon like you free with full risk of his destruction? No one with a fraction of intelligence would. Who is the fool now?" Zeratul asked as the Saiyan stumbled to answer that question.

"Well, uh, it doesn't matter! I can kill him whether he is trying to control my actions or not. Now shut up and fight me, I want as much enjoyment out of this as possible!"

Zeratul sighed slightly, giving way to his own stance with his sword drawn. "So be it!"

-

The Dark Templar directly behind Verto charged first, only to get a swift kick to his jaw followed by an elbow to the neck. The warrior fell into a crumpled heap, nearly dead. The rest of them save Zeratul charged next, all sword swiping to hit the Saiyan. None connected and a few dozen phase-outs followed by blows to the head had dropped them all to the ground.

"Don't worry, they aren't dead yet. I barely touched them and I'll save them the final memory of their great leader bowing at my feet!" Verto grinned.

"You really are an evil child. You should know that good will strike you down!" Zeratul shouted as he charged. Only thirty feet away, Verto raised his hand and charged a medium sized energy ball, firing quickly. When it left his hand, he noticed that it came out as green mixed energy, a fact that he had forgotten. _Oops, didn't mean to end it so soon, oh well. _Zeratul dodged aside and kept coming. _Oh good, he can avoid the easy ones, let's see where this goes! _Verto fired three more and watched as the Dark Templar leader dodged two of them and parried another to the side with his sword. Verto charged a straight ki ball this time but let it spin in his hand and watched Zeratul come to a screeching halt not twelve feet away.

"I can't say I've ever encountered a being like you Zeratul. Your powers are strange to me, and I know I haven't seen them all yet. However I would like to see how much you can take. I seriously doubt you could guard against the full power of a Saiyan like me, but you have eluded me so far, maybe by my own arrogance. We shall see!" Verto said, powering up the energy ball and getting ready to fire.

"If only you could see the potential you have boy, maybe then you could see that you are wrong!" Zeratul spat slightly, raising his green sword.

"I understand this body's potential just fine, and I promise you that someday soon, it will not be rivaled in any part of the universe, or frankly beyond that!" Verto grinned back.

"I wasn't talking about your power boy, it is a kind heart that I see. One that protects others from evils like yourself, the one true power in the universe is purity. All others are mediocre at best!" Zeratul cocked his own slight grin, but not much of one.

It was Zerg-Verto's turn to frown, "I'll show you old timer, I'll show you what true power I possess!" With that said he ignited another energy ball in his other hand, this one made strictly of Psi. He grunted slightly, he never expected that his energy would be more difficult to separate in this higher form. Then he pulled both hands back, bringing the two together. The two clashed at each other with a bit of lightning, before merging together and swirling into a bright green color that shimmered with power.

Zeratul took a few steps back, "What are you doing, you can't combine the two energies like that. That kind of destructive power can't be contained or controlled! You will destroy the planet and yourself along with it!"

Verto cocked a smirk, a bit amazed that Zeratul had just now sensed the energy fusion, "I guess it's up to the good of the universe to stop me then isn't it, up to the challenge old man?" Zeratul sweated nervously and stood still, pulling one hand up with a small white blast forming in front of it. Verto stopped charging once he saw it, recognizing it from his previous battle. After allowing it to form, Zeratul let it float in front of him, waiting for Verto to make the first move. Verto fired his green beam and let it rocket towards Zeratul.

"FEEDBACK!" Green beam clashed with white ball and struggled to overtake each other. At first Verto's beam pushed it back towards Zeratul, but then stopped a few feet away from him. The feedback ball slowly enlarged as it absorbed the energy from the beam, and then advanced quickly towards the owner of the blast. Zeratul pushed it faster with his energy, only to see it go right through an intangible image of Verto and strike the far wall, dissipating.

"You didn't actually think I would fall for that again did you?" he heard directly behind him. One kick to the stomach area flashed a blue shield and gave Zeratul time to jump back. Verto charged in with many punches and kicks aimed at Zeratul's head. The crafty old man dodged quickly and parried some away with his energy sword, causing the young Saiyan to retract his attacks. Verto jumped back and landed across the bowl shaped dark room. Zeratul pulled his sword up to a slant across his body, in a defensive stance.

"Try this one Zeratul!" Verto dared, pulling both palms up.

"Do your worst boy!" Zeratul was then treated to a lot of quick and small mixed energy blasts being fired like a machine gun. The old Templar dodged side-to-side and deflected even more with his sword, letting them fly into the now smoking walls.

"For one who talks about power, you sure haven't shown me much about it. Perhaps you still don't understand the energies you wield, they aren't everything. Much like the fish in the seas, there is always one bigger and better!" Zeratul declared as Verto stopped his ki storm.

The young Saiyan simply grinned again, "If you want something that will end the battle faster, you shall have it!" That said, Verto called up two more green balls of mixed energy and pulled them back behind him.

"The way your feedback move struggled against my last one, I doubt that it can handle what I am about to do!" Verto smirked as he charged it. Zeratul pulled his sword up to a ready position with a determined look on his grim face.

"Fine then old fool. Super Galic Gun!" To say Zeratul's eyes lit up would be an understatement, but they did as the large beam quickly got to him. He pulled his sword to a vertical to block against it and was pushed back upon impact. Zeratul grunted under the force that he was blocking against, and started to struggle to keep his footing as his shield started to flash violently around him.

"Prelate Zeratul, no!" a fallen Dark Templar shouted from across the room. The rest of them had begun to regain their senses, but stayed down primarily as they watched their leader fight against the overwhelming energy beam. Zeratul eyed most of them and managed to get his other hand to turn his wrist sword counterclockwise, putting immense pressure on his failing arms. His green sword glowed brighter and pushed sideways against the beam, causing it to turn the other way. Zeratul let loose a mighty war cry and fell back as he pushed forward and upward, watching the giant green beam turn and head that way, crashing into the blue walls and plowing right through it. Rock and rubble fell as the cave shook from the impact. The dust rushed in as did light once the beam went through the mountain, showing the brighter daylight clouds outside. Verto kept a frown at first, but managed to grin as Zeratul struggled to get up and catch his breath.

"I must admit, you are impressive for a Protoss, worthy of fighting a Saiyan. I will take true pleasure in finishing you and your brethren off!" Verto grinned as he pulled back for another round. Suddenly Verto's gaze shifted to the new hole in the ceiling as he sensed something. The surprised look on his face would have been funny if the Dark Templar weren't losing the battle.

"Finally, a real fight!" he whispered as he powered down to his normal form. Zeratul and the others looked up in questioning gasps as Verto lifted off the ground and flew out of the cave. Once outside, Verto changed direction again and blasted off, leaving some more dust and rubble to fall into the cave.

"I don't understand Prelate Zeratul, why would he leave? Victory was in his grasp?" one Templar said, struggling to get on his feet as the far doors opened up. Artanis and other Zealots ran in to check on Zeratul and the others.

"Prelate Zeratul, our scanners have detected a Protoss carrier landing in sector one-one-eight! It's identification belongs to that of the former Executor. It's part of Tassadar's fleet!" Many gasps from the regular Protoss troops and small murmurs began.

"Perhaps our help has arrived, I feel that the young Saiyan considers them more of a threat then us. Our time has been delayed again my brothers! Begin to repair the outer defenses as well as this breach, the Zerg may come any time now!" Zeratul ordered while looking up into the clouded skies.

**A/N: Ya'll know its on now, the only question that remains is who is going to fight Verto first and if they will win or not. Who's going to take Verto down, or will all six of them fall to the young Saiyan? **


	29. Saiyan Arrival

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 28: Saiyan Arrival**

"Ha, only the Zerg could pick a rat hole like this one as a home planet!" Vegeta said the instant he stepped off the Protoss ship.

"Technically it is not their home planet. We actually do not know where they originate from, but sources say…oh," Krator stopped once the Saiyan prince gave him a dark look.

"Ah, it can't that bad Vegeta. Every planet could be a good home if taken care of," Goku claimed as he came down the ramp. He took back the words the instant he glanced around.

Scratching his head like only Goku could, he sighed. "Well, maybe this one is just a little out of shape." Vegeta just rolled his eyes at his rival and walked forward. Tora, Bardock and Gohan soon followed the duo outside, taking in the view for themselves.

"You said this planetary system had two suns right?" Gohan asked Krator.

"Correct, and judging by the way the planets revolve, there will probably not be any nightfall during our stay here. Our scans show that this planet just had an eclipse and another will not occur for approximately twenty-seven years," the Zealot explained.

"That might make things easier. Zerg are harder to detect at night. This way we should have plenty of advanced warning should any approach from the ground or skies, and this rock looks difficult to burrow through once you're through the ash layer," Bardock said, kicking up some dust with his boot.

"Man, I hope these clouds go away soon. I want to see two suns up at once! I think it's kind of neat!" Goku grinned slightly, getting a massive groan from the group.

"You did Dad, on Namek," Gohan muttered under his breath.

Generally ignoring the good natured Saiyan, Tora turned back to the ship, "Hey I almost forgot, I should go wake Fasha and tell her we landed. Then we can get to work on finding Verto!"

"Tora, hold on!" Vegeta snapped up, staring hard at the skies and towards the current sunset. Tora froze where he stood, waiting for his orders.

"No need for that, the boy is coming this way right now. We will fly out to meet him. There's definitely a chance that he will not come with us willingly, we shouldn't risk any damage to the ship!" Vegeta shouted as he summoned his aura and took off into the sky.

"But what about Fasha?" Gohan asked.

"No worries kid, I seriously doubt we will even need her. Our training has been great, even if Verto somehow joined their side. This fight is gonna be over before it begins. We can't lose!" Tora said as he flew up next to him. Gohan didn't look so sure, but followed suit as the five pack of Saiyans set a collision course with their long lost friend.

Krator just stared at them as they left, "I hope they are right!"

-

"_I hope you know that you will be punished for leaving the battle. The Protoss were right in your hands and you left them alive!" _Verto heard in his mind as he flew away from the caves.

"_Shut it you giant octopus, my real targets just arrived. The Protoss are no threat to you anyway, just let me fight the other Saiyans on my own without your blasted interference! Then once you've gotten what you wanted you can set me free and I'll be on my merry way. If we follow that course of action, we'll both be happy!"_ he thought back.

"_Only __**if**__ you succeed, will that discussion take place. As long as you retain Zerg cells and our ability to regenerate, you are mine!"_ the Overmind said, giving Verto a sharp pinch in the tail that nearly dropped him from the sky.

"_It had better not make my body weak like it did Borgos. Otherwise I may have some trouble!"_ Verto scowled.

"_No need to remind me of our mistakes. The Zerg genes inserted into your body are different and simply regenerate the outer portions rather than a complete transformation. Reforming your spirit and life matter would have given you more power, but would have made your body frail. That would have been impossible given your mental state anyway, therefore your body should be just as hard and rugged as usual. Just make sure not to take on too many strong energy waves, otherwise even I may not be able to save you from death!" _

"Yeah, whatever. Ah...here we are,"Zerg-Verto grinned when he sensed his targets power up a little and come directly towards him. He flew over a large bed of lava pits and over a small range of mountains before landing in a vast, flat plain, waiting on them. He stayed at about half of his full power just so they didn't get lost trying to find him. He only had to wait about five minutes before he spotted five auras in the sky, Vegeta's being the leader.

"So it begins," he said in a low tone as the Saiyans came down and landed about forty feet away.

"Verto! So you are alive and well, we weren't really sure! Hey what happened to your hair and your face? Is that what Zerg implants do?" Goku spoke first despite Vegeta's growl to silence him. Verto put a hand through his now longer hair, realizing that the Zerg genes had probably made it grow out just a little. As for his face, it had turned to a thick but variant yellow mixed with green with three sharp and dark lines going diagonally across from left to right, each line about an inch wide and four inches long.

"Oh just a few changes, nothing really different. Let's just say it has been an awakening, Kakarot!" Verto smirked sharply. Everyone's slight frown turned up a notch or two, while Goku's confused look remained.

"You can still call me Goku you know?"

"Goku is the name of a weak fool that doesn't understand his potential, nor does he truly know how to use the power that he has. Thus does not deserve any other name than the one time weakest Saiyan in history. However, you have a certain knack for posing a great challenge, so I may save you, for last!" Verto said, scowling now. Vegeta had matched his stance with his arms crossed, staring daggers at his former apprentice.

"For such a tiny kid you sure like to talk. Apparently you don't remember that all of us are now stronger than you!" Tora spoke up from behind Vegeta.

"Tora, that's enough, back down. I will handle this!" Vegeta barked.

"Oh yes, the prince himself, I had almost forgotten," Verto's bright smirk returned.

"Do not presume to know me boy. You're hardly the Verto that we know. He's much smarter and much stronger than you are, imposter!" Vegeta began.

"I'm afraid your facts are twisted around my prince, and where he is he can't disagree with me," Verto said as he pointed to his head.

"And where is that?" Vegeta asked as his eyes narrowed.

"Humph, let's just say he will be forced to watch what I am about to do to all of you! You're the one who will regret coming across me! Haaaa!" Verto shouted as he began to power up. The slight breeze that went through everyone's hair didn't alarm anyone in particular.

Verto's eyes flashed from black to blue several times before staying bright blue. His hair stood up from shoulder length and gave way to his Super Mystic silver color. His battle cry did well to further flatten the empty plain, also sending a slight wave of panic through Bardock and Tora. Gohan and Vegeta remained silent and focused while Goku looked a little excited.

Verto stood up and kept his cocky smirk, "Any volunteers?" Vegeta's arms dropped to his sides as he then stepped forward a few steps, getting a little closer to his young trainee.

Vegeta then grinned back, "I've been waiting for a chance to beat some sense into you boy, and now you're really going to get it!"

"You beat sense into this body a long time ago Vegeta. And thanks in part to your vicious training and behavioral methods, I was strengthened into what you see here. Your death is on your own hands!" Verto said confidently before phasing out and bashing Vegeta's head with an elbow. The impact sent the Saiyan prince skidding across the lands and into the distance with dust clouds left in his wake. Verto waited for about five seconds afterwards before holding up his hand and erecting a green energy barrier ahead of him. As if he expected it, several hundred ki blasts then rained in from Vegeta's position, followed by an angry prince at Super Saiyan two. Verto disengaged his shield just as Vegeta came flying in, catching the punch aimed for his chest.

"You can't beat me around anymore prince, the apprentice is now the master!" Verto said in his ear. Vegeta misaimed a kick on purpose and saw Verto phase out right into the path of his next ki attack. The small blast stunned the smaller Saiyan for a moment, allowing Vegeta to swoop in and pummel him with multiple punches and kicks. After a half minute of pounding, Vegeta bashed him into the ground and gave off his own smirk.

"I see you needed a reminder of who the master is around here. It certainly isn't you after that little display!" Vegeta boasted. Verto groaned slightly as he picked himself up, but stood tall as his wounds began to mend themselves, sealing a few cuts on his arms and face instantly.

"What the?" Vegeta asked before swallowing the answer when his brain caught up.

"I'll give the Zerg credit, they know a good ability when they see one," Verto chuckled as he wiped some of the residue off his arms.

"It won't save you brat!" Vegeta declared, charging again. Verto came right at him as well. The first few blows were blocked on each side, and then the flurry began with several shockwaves to go with it. The brawl was on.

-

"Something isn't right Tora," Bardock said as he and the others watched the knockdown drag out fight between Verto and Vegeta.

"I know what you mean, I didn't think the kid was even as strong as we are now and he's going toe to toe with the Prince," Tora said, amazed as the two warriors went flying by.

"This is a much different Verto than we remember, somehow the Zerg have unleashed a darkness in him and it seems to have increased his power dramatically. What I can't figure out is how he is using his Super Mystic powers, something that feels that evil shouldn't be able to use them, or at least that is what the Kais told us," Gohan said, eyes narrowed down as the shockwaves continued.

"I'm not sure Vegeta knows what he's up against, guys. Verto is still going at full strength and Vegeta is starting to fall behind a little. He's got to do something soon. Verto might even be stronger than he is at the third level," Goku said, his face finally replaced with the seriousness that the situation posed.

"He hasn't gone to the third level though, Kakarot. He's still got cards to play, and this fight just got going. I know for a fact that Verto doesn't have that much power in him. No way!" Bardock said to his son, who didn't look so optimistic.

"I'm not sure of that grandpa, when he first regenerated himself he didn't lose any power. Maybe it's not him that regenerated, maybe the Zerg cells on the outside of his skin do it automatically, so it doesn't create a strain. That would make sense," Gohan interjected.

"Either way, Prince Vegeta may need to go for the win rather than trying not to kill him. It might be the only way," Tora said, unsure himself. In the air, Verto was annoying Vegeta by dodging and evading and not attacking, forcing Vegeta to constantly chase him down.

"You're getting slow old man!" Verto teased as he phased out from one of Vegeta's power punches.

"Argh! Fine then, boy, prepare yourself!" Vegeta growled before retreating to a power up stance. Golden bolts of lightning struck around the Saiyan prince as he then powered up to Super Saiyan three.

Zerg-Verto only grinned at this, "Too soon." The Saiyan prince came blazing in and caught Verto off guard with his speed. The stunned child could barely dodge any of the blows before Vegeta kicked him sharply in the gut and turned his body into an S shape with a smack to the back of the head. Another blow to the back and Verto was sent into the dirt at a high speed. Vegeta barely let the dust rise before unleashing another ki blast storm that shredded the newly formed crater into nothing but rubble. He caught his breath while the dust settled, wondering if he had put his former student down or not. The ground shook a bit as the rocks and boulders were suddenly blown off, revealing a very bloody Saiyan beneath, but very much alive.

"Heh, not bad Vegeta! N-Not bad at all!" Verto said, catching his breath and standing up. The Zerg attachments regenerated his skin almost instantly, as there were many cuts and bruises that had appeared. The same was likely done with any internal injuries or broken bones.

"Next time you won't be able to regenerate!" Vegeta declared.

"Bring it on, old man!" Verto challenged just as Vegeta came flying in. This time Verto phased out and grabbed Vegeta by his now much longer hair. He swung him over the shoulder and slammed him into the ground multiple times. After a few dozen slams, Verto swung Vegeta high into the air, before giving quick chase. Vegeta flipped back over and backhanded Verto as he arrived behind him, but catching a kick to the chin an instant later. The two clashed again with vicious blows being landed and none being blocked, a majority of their energy behind each one. Spit and blood flew to the ground and hit the spectators a little bit. It soon ended as they landed hard punches to the face at the same time and dropped out of the sky. With Vegeta's body being a little more durable, he recovered a bit more quickly, but Verto was almost regenerated once he hit the ground.

"Wow, that stuff works fast doesn't it?" Goku muttered though no one answered.

"And it's not taking any of his energy away, I'm sure that was what Vegeta was trying to do and now it's not working. I don't think Verto's energy has gone down at all, he must have really mastered it while he was out here. I can barely regulate mine at that level and he's already that far ahead!" Gohan said in almost admiration.

"I'm not sure about that son. I sense that evil presence in him, but beneath it I swear I sense something else. If I didn't know better I'd say there were two Verto's, and this is the one we don't know so well!" Goku said with his extra serious look. A few shockwaves snapped up everyone's attention again, as Vegeta had just clobbered Verto across the face and chest before giving him the toss. Instantly he pulled his hand up and charged a lot of energy into it.

"Oh no, don't do that Vegeta!" Goku shouted suddenly.

"I regret that it had to come to this boy, but I can tell it's the only way! BIG BANG ATTACK!!" The giant blue ball shot into the sky with unforgiving fury, straight at the stunned Saiyan. Verto's eyes popped open when he felt the immense heat directly below him. He flipped forward and created his energy sword, which was bright green now. He barely turned in time and swung the sword directly at the blast, stopping it just shy of his body. Much like Zeratul struggled before, Verto now struggled with Vegeta's huge attack. On the ground, Vegeta was a little surprised that Verto had stopped his attack in mid air, but pushed more energy into it, causing the young Saiyan to fight against it harder.

"Argh, you won't stop me!" Verto shouted as his arms shook violently. He then turned the sword slightly in his hands and saw it flash before his eyes. The golden ki from Vegeta's blast then slowly swirled and shrank into the sword, before filing up into Verto's arms and reactivating his aura, turning it gold as well.

"What the hell?" was on everyone's mind. Vegeta growled, remembering that the younger saiyan had done that to him before, and prepared to avoid his next attack. Verto's hair then turned into a brighter silver color, almost white, his eyes glowing a very bright blue. The big bang attack completely disappeared into the sword and into Verto's body, powering him way up. He smirked brightly and deactivated his sword, looking at his hands as vicious green lightning flashed around him.

"Oh shit," Vegeta muttered as he saw what happened.

"He absorbed it? How can his body handle that much energy?!" Gohan asked aloud.

"The Zerg cells are constantly regenerating him, that's how. I doubt he will hold all of that for long once he starts using it, but for now it's safe to say he's stronger than all of us if he can do that!" Bardock said. Verto instantly arrived on the ground and hit a thunderous uppercut to Vegeta, who flew up in the air and drifted momentarily. Verto's hands flashed green with mixed energy before he brought them together behind him, creating a larger green ball.

"Here you go prince, one out of your playbook. Slightly modified, of course! Super Galic Gun!!!" Verto shouted, bringing it forward. Vegeta's shocked look turned to determination as he watched his certain death coming straight at him. He drew up as much energy as he could to move. He managed to dodge some of the blast and was blown out of the way as the huge beam went into the sky. It collided with a large piece of debris a little ways from the planet, lighting up the skies and even blew some of the clouds away. Vegeta's aura dropped as he sank to one knee on the ground, his hair shortening and turning black again.

"Damn, Vegeta put everything into that last blast. I'll go next!" Goku declared, stretching his neck slightly.

"Kakarot, let us help you!" Bardock suggested.

Goku smiled and shook his head, "If I can't win, then it's up to Gohan. A group effort is a nice idea, but I don't think it'll work here. Just help Vegeta out, I'll get Verto's attention away from him!" Goku said, putting two fingers to his head. Verto was laughing in the air slightly as he watched Vegeta sulking slightly on the ground, banging his fists a little bit.

"It's my fault, I trained a monster, I drove him to this. I only wanted the best for him, but I had to keep pushing. It's all my damn fault!" Vegeta groaned as he got up, clinching and slipping on his teeth at regular intervals. Goku suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Don't get down in the dumps Vegeta. Yeah, you trained him, but it was him that gave in to this. It's not your fault and I don't ever want to hear that it is. I'll take it from here!" Goku said, giving Vegeta a hand up.

Vegeta grunted as Goku helped him up, "Good luck Kakarot, you're going to need it. I don't know if we can even hurt him now. I didn't try everything, but I'm pretty sure nothing else will work!" Vegeta said, almost limping away.

"Maybe, but I won't know if I don't try," Goku said, powering up. As Goku was going through his Super Saiyan levels, Vegeta limped over to Gohan.

"If Kakarot fails, it's all up to you!"

Gohan nodded, "Yeah, I know!" They then heard Verto laughing loudly in the sky, his voice had grown darker as his power had gone up.

"The great hero marches out to save everyone, your legacy ends today, Kakarot!" Verto boasted.

"You talk like a broken record. You make it sound like you know everything about me. I can tell you are not the real Verto. Nor will you ever equal his true level of strength. Now let's get this over with!" Goku said, powering up to Super Saiyan three.

**Power levels****:**

**Super Mystic Zerg-Verto: 550,000,000; after Big bang absorption: 660,000,000**

**Vegeta (SS2): 460,000,000; SS3: 565,000,000**

**Next time on DBV: The battle between Goku and Verto gets going as everyone around the planet looks on. The Overmind becomes somewhat concerned with the power of the other Saiyans, and introduces his solution to the problem with a new minion to carry out his plans. Who is this great warrior, and does he have more power than the other Z fighters? Midway through their battle, Zerg-Verto realizes that he must beat everyone soon or face the possible consequences from the Overmind. The battle with Goku ends abruptly and Gohan steps up to face the infested warrior. Next Time.**


	30. Borrowed Psi

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 29: Borrowed Psi**

"Hmmm, I didn't realize that Kakarot could pull up this much power," Bardock said as he watched the fight in the air. It had begun much as the previous battle had, a physical brawl with very little in the way of energy use except for flight and the occasional after-image display. It had been going for a good ten minutes while the others watched.

"Yeah. Dad and I put in a lot of late night sessions," Gohan mentioned with a slight frown. The sky lit up some as both Verto and Goku landed power punches directed at each other's heads.

"He's at his absolute maximum, and the kid is matching him, incredible," Tora said. Vegeta kept a deep scowl at the skies, his battered form now standing up on his own power.

"Something I don't get though," Gohan muttered a little loud.

"What's that?" Bardock asked while his eyes were moving back and forth.

"How can he keep his power up that high?" Gohan said, stunned slightly.

"Your father?"

"No, Verto I mean. His power shouldn't be able to stay that high in this form. At least not that high compared to earlier," Gohan said, studying his former friend.

"I'm not following this, he absorbed that huge ki attack and the Zerg cells are constantly regenerating him so that he can handle it. That I understand, but he hasn't used that much of that energy. So, what do you mean?" Bardock asked.

"Well Grandpa, the basic Mystic form is just like any form. Except I can call on all of my power without getting angry. But the Super Mystic form depends on a delicate balance between ki and Psi for the maximum output of energy, that's why my power doesn't go up as much by comparison like Verto's does when we transform. When this balance is disrupted, say I use up too much energy, I lose the form. But not because I was out of ki, it's because I don't have enough Psi to keep up the effort and balance. I would imagine the opposite is true as well. Whenever I tried simply putting forth more ki than Psi to maintain, it didn't work near as well," Gohan pointed out.

"So Verto should have lost the form when he absorbed that blast if he didn't pull up more Psi, is that what your saying?" Bardock asked, trying to figure out his grandson's logic.

"Yes exactly, I can sense that he was powered all the way up before he absorbed that blast. Then suddenly he managed to get more Psi from somewhere. It's keeping his level higher than it was. I can't tell from where, but I know it wasn't his," Gohan said, frowning deeper.

"Maybe it's the Overmind, who knows what that thing using for energy," Tora suggested.

"I don't think so, it wasn't an outside source," Gohan said, silencing himself as he tried to figure it out himself.

"That doesn't make sense boy," Vegeta said from behind him.

Gohan didn't even turn around, "Yeah, but it's the truth." Everyone then blocked out a bright light that appeared in the sky. Verto and Goku had fired dueling beams at each other and the collision was starting to grow very big.

**Interlude 29.1: Overmind **

The Overmind's large eye blinked a time or two as he watched the fight using his own sensory skills. Some of his other Cerebrates and minions were observing on some sort of organic video feed that needed a serious tune up for distortion. His lead Cerebrate Daggoth was in its own hive cluster nearby, watching from there. Kerrigan was also watching from her own hive cluster, but had also an active link to the Overmind currently being used.

"It's begun, Verto has begun to depend on you for power now. Soon he will bow before you directly," Daggoth hissed.

"Not me Daggoth, I do not know where he has gotten the extra Psi. I sense it within him, but from an unknown source. It is possible that is it the remnants of the Cerebrate, the last piece of energy left maybe. I would have thought he would have disposed of his other half and the Cerebrate by now, but it is hard to tell with such an unstable mind. I may have a look myself after all this is over. I would still prefer letting him keep his mind and body under his own control, however, that depends on his continued silent rebellion," the Overmind said.

"Is your plan still going as you said it would?" Daggoth asked.

"Overall yes. I would have preferred the Dark Templar destroyed, but they don't threaten me directly anymore. All I need now is the genetic samples from the other Saiyans before I can create what I need, assuming Verto does not fail me!"

"Which one of them is most appealing for your purpose?" Daggoth asked.

"All of them have the potential, however they all have a certain rebellious instinct within them that would create certain problems, especially Goku and Vegeta. However there is one that doesn't completely share that conviction. One that would serve my purposes greatly and ultimately will carry them out. Even Verto's current level of skill and power would be no match for him," the Overmind boasted.

"And which one is that?" Kerrigan asked in curiosity while listening to the conversation. The wall opened up just then, and a large darkened figure stepped in. Very little light reached his face, a result of a thick mass of dark hair that covered it. Daggoth's eye sharpened a bit, trying to figure out who it was. The figure walked to the center of the room, directly in front of the large eye, but large was enough that he was just as tall as the Overmind's eye.

"I am here, master," he said in a dark voice.

"Should Verto fail, he will do my bidding, won't you?" He didn't even turn, just simply grinned slightly and pushed its hair up, revealing the face. Daggoth's eye then turned many colors in shock before settling down. Kerrigan's reaction was closer to a scream without the sound. The large figure was very much humanoid in shape and size, except was very massive and looked like he could pick up buildings and throw them around for a while. When she saw his face though, she nearly had a heart attack.

"What is wrong, Kerrigan? You seem a little on the edge," the Overmind asked.

"Not at all, just a little overwhelmed at the slaughter machine you just introduced," she said, but her voice quivered slightly.

"What do you think, Kerrigan is a bit overwhelmed at your presence? Maybe she doesn't think you can destroy the other Saiyans?" the Overmind asked softly in his ear.

"She's right, I won't just destroy them. That word does not apply for what I will do to them, Muhahahaha!" the infested agent said, cackling for a good minute or so. Kerrigan managed to let blood flow to her face again, _this isn't good._

**Interlude 29.2: Good Verto-Cerebrate **

"Cerebrate, your leg is fading!" I said in slight panic. We had been watching the battle with Vegeta and Goku in silence. But when my other self managed to absorb the extra energy from Vegeta's big bang attack, I felt some of the Cerebrate's pure Psi being pulled from his form and added to my physical body.

"Technically it's not my leg, but yes it is slowly fading. Your evil self is beginning to demand more energy from me to sustain his high power level, and it's going to take its toll very soon!" Cerebrate said, his head filling up with sweat beads.

"I don't get it, he already absorbed that huge attack and it powered him way up. Why does he need more power?" I asked.

Cerebrate sighed, "Your Super Mystic form is complicated, no doubt you have noticed that as well?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, it's a little different to handle at times, but what does that have to do with it?"

"Your higher form depends on a balance between ki and Psi to sustain itself, when that balance is broken, you lose the form. Do you understand?"

"Kinda, but my energies pretty much fuse themselves together in that form so I spend an equal amount of it unless I intentionally try to separate them or something. So how does that affect this?" I asked.

"Luckily you have a near balance, so yes you spend nearly equal amounts of each energy unless you intentionally separate them. Your friend Gohan isn't as fortunate, but he makes due with what he has. Your other self is balanced like you. He added a lot of ki to this body by absorbing that blast, that would have disrupted the balance enough for a power down, but.." he looked at me to finish.

"But he somehow knew that already, so he's drawing off your power to keep it balanced and got even stronger, right?"

"Exactly, the Zerg cells can maintain that kind of ki power for as long as he needs and will regenerate his physical body to handle it longer, but Psi can't be regenerated that fast. So he must draw off my own. Should he take too much, well…" he finished, looking away slightly.

"What happens to you?" I asked, seeing his other leg starting to become ethereal.

"First off you should know that this is only my astral form, I am held down elsewhere in your mind. I sent this vision of myself to assist you for now. As I lose more energy, I will lose some of my concentration and therefore I will fade away from here. Once he takes all of my Psi, I will no longer exist in your mind. The only way to stop the transfer is to find my form and take my energy for yourself, do you understand?" he asked.

I stared at him in shock, "I can't do that, and then you will fade away anyway!"

"You must, otherwise your evil side may rule this body forever. It is for your own good as well as others. He can't be allowed to continue like this!"

I stared at him hard, "I thought you said all we had to do was wait for him to screw up?"

He allowed his head to droop slightly, "Yeah, well, things have changed. I assumed that since you had not mastered your Super Mystic powers, that he hadn't either. I assumed your abilities were the same, and it seems that I was incorrect, or perhaps he only understands the balance issue and nothing else." I cocked my head to the side in confusion before rethinking what he had just said, prompting another response.

"It's possible that he still doesn't quite understand how to successfully regulate Psi, there are better ways to use it other than overwhelming power. Hopefully you will learn how someday under a trained master, but he understands enough that to use his maximum power he needs that balance. I'm a temporary fix to that problem it seems, otherwise he would struggle to defeat the Saiyans. You must find my true form and take all of the energy from it before he does. I can't here stay much longer, it is too draining. This may be the only way to get your body back now!" he said as I noticed his entire lower body had vanished now, his stomach and chest area were now fading along with his arms. I sighed slightly, I didn't want to have to end someone's life to save others, but it seemed I didn't have a choice.

"Alright, I'll do it, where can I find you?" I asked.

A blank look entered his face, "I'm not completely sure, but that answer can't be far from you now. Just look around and you should find me quickly. Hurry before my power is gone!" he said as he then faded completely.

"Great," I muttered, looking around at nothing but black. The viewing globe was still flashing as my other self and Goku continued to clash, having a duel of energy waves at the time. I sighed as I picked it up and hovered off the ground, flying around and looking for anything unusual.

**Interlude 29.3: Fasha **

"Beep, Beep!**" **BAM!

"Shit!" Fasha shouted as she instantly broke whatever the Protoss called a bedside lamp. She blinked a few times before rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She took another minute to realize there wasn't an alarm clock of any kind that woke her up, and that the beeping came from the door.

"Come in," she mumbled. Krator then walked through as the door slid open.

"My apologies Miss Fasha, did I wake you?" he asked.

"Yeah, how long have I been out?" she asked, trying to figure it out herself.

"About eighteen hours, your friends.." he was cut off quickly.

"Eighteen hours?! Why the hell didn't anyone wake me up?! How the hell did I sleep that long?! The prince is gonna kill me! Are we there yet? Well answer me!" she practically exploded. Krator checked for his own pulse before continuing.

"Yes we arrived on Char an hour ago, your friends left the ship upon arrival. I have been trying to wake you since then. One of our officers reported some sort of sleep inducing residue on one of your meal platters. Which may explain why you have been asleep for all this time," he calmly explained. The look on her face went from shocked and angry to subdued and sad.

"So he really didn't want me involved, I see. How far away are they? I need to at least show my support!"

"About one hundred miles to the north and west. I can give you a better direction once we are outside. I will give you a moment to change garments," Krator said, leaving the room promptly. Fasha slowly slid out of the clothes she had been sleeping in and into her battle gear. _Prince Vegeta must have done this, he must have figured I would have tried to come with them to the battlefield. Well I don't care now, I have to see Verto again. Even if we are not meant to be together, I have to know that he is okay._ Fasha silently walked the halls while remembering some of the good times she and Verto had shared. She followed the direction of Krator's gaze before seeing the skies light up and sensing the power struggles occurring. She took off slowly, but headed straight for the battlefield.

**-**

Zerg-Verto growled under his breath as he pushed his own energy beam against Goku's Kamehameha Wave. He had planned to use all ki against this clash so he could conserve his extra Psi supply a bit. Since that energy would regenerate decently fast, he intended on saving the Cerebrate's power supply until he faced the Overmind. He quickly found that it would not work, Goku's ki power was much higher than his and he was forced to use a mixed energy beam once again when Goku threw more power against his. The other problem with it was he would have to drop out of Super Mystic form if he used too much pure ki. While holding Goku's wave at bay, he rescanned everyone's power with his own. Despite absorbing Vegeta's attack, his ki alone was less than even Bardock and Tora. That meant that only the mixed power of his Super Mystic form was going to be effective. He felt that it would be more than enough against Goku and the others, however Gohan would be a different story.

_Well that's just great, I'm gonna have to beat them down and somehow save it all for Kakarot's brat. Odds are that big ugly may start interfering soon, so I better end this quickly. Damnit, I wanted to have a real fight with him._ He shut off his beam and dodged to the side, phasing in and out while Goku was still concentrating on his beam. His plan worked and he nailed Goku in the chin with a direct uppercut that sent the Super Saiyan flying. Verto then calmed himself a bit, holding his hands up and sending out a massive amount of energy and surrounded Goku with it. Once Goku recovered from the blow, Verto ignited the energy field and struck Goku with lightning bolts of mixed energy over and over again.

This unexpected attack not only caught Goku off guard, but also beat him into unconsciousness, causing him to revert to normal form. Verto panted in anger slightly as he unleashed this attack. He had wanted to enjoy himself in this fight, as he wanted the honor of defeating Goku at his own game. Time wasn't with him at the moment, so he had to end it early with his new technique. It was based on the idea of the Psi Storm attack that Kerrigan had shown him, though he understood it better when Aldaris used it on his other self. The mighty Saiyan resisted against this with a yell of pain, but was quickly put down when Verto increased the energy output of his attack. Once he sensed Goku was out cold, he relinquished the hold and watched as Goku plummeted to the ground. Bardock flew up and caught his son before anyone else moved. He slowly drifted to the ground with his son held in his arms before putting him flat on the ground.

"Kakarot, speak to me son!" the elder Saiyan begged and pleaded several times. Verto thought he spotted a tear or two in Bardock's eye before the unmistakable sound of sobbing. It didn't last though, and a war cry filled the lands before Bardock shot into Super Saiyan two and charged Verto in the air.

"You will pay!" Bardock snarled. His rage filled eyes said it all before Verto dodged his first punch and gave him a sharp kick to the jaw, followed by several dozen hard punches to the chest and stomach. Bardock fell backwards but recovered decently fast before charging a one handed attack.

"Riot Javelin!" he shouted, tossing the white and green ki ball at the younger Saiyan. Verto batted it into the air easily, keeping a strict eye on Bardock as the skies darkened. Bardock's attack fell and exploded off the ground, blinding everyone for a moment before clearing.

He growled a bit and took a step back, charging a familiar two handed attack this time, "Argh, take this! Ka me...ha me...HAA!" The blue beam seemed to hit dead on and keep on going as Bardock grinned. As it went by and sailed into the sky, he was suddenly hit hard in the back of the head by a small knife hand chop. Verto was right behind him, unscathed, as the attack had even not touched him before he moved. Bardock's ki plummeted as he groaned in shock, and his hair changed back to normal black. Verto charged energy into the last blow that sent Bardock back to the ground in a heap next to his son. Verto then lowered himself to the ground and stared down the group.

"You call yourself a true Saiyan. Why use these cheap moves to down a warrior like Kakarot? Were afraid he was going to beat you?" Tora asked, one of the two who still had plenty of power. Vegeta grunted himself a bit, he hadn't really liked what he saw either. He had trained Verto to be quick and equally powerful with his fights, but not to use deadly force unless he had to, a Bulma aspect primarily. Not only that, but he was trained to enjoy the draw of a good fight, and not to go for the win so early. The kid impressed him even further when he constantly wanted to train and spar, but when quizzed on killing others, he wanted no part of it unless absolutely necessary. To Vegeta's eye, he had performed nearly flawless. He glared at what had developed, his opposite in character.

Verto slowly took a breath or two before answering, "He lived. I didn't maintain that attack long enough to kill him, it wasn't my wish to end this fight so soon. I admit Kakarot is an honorable warrior, despite his weak points. And the technique I used is just new, it's not my fault he wasn't prepared for it. If one of you are lucky enough to beat me and get off this planet, then maybe I'll carry out a real fight with him later. But I don't have the time right now. Who's next?" he beckoned with one hand. Vegeta noticed that his overly arrogant attitude had all but vanished. Meaning he might be worried or distracted, or perhaps exhausted. While Tora wanted to fight him now, he stared back at Gohan, who was giving Verto the piercing glare from hell.

"Gohan, take him down!" Vegeta ordered. Verto's gaze quickly shifted off of Tora, who backed up quickly, he didn't want to be in the middle of this one. Gohan stepped forward until he was only twenty feet away from Verto before starting his power up.

"I will...defeat you!"

**Power levels****:**

**Super Mystic Zerg-Verto: 660,000,000 (ki alone: 330,000,000)**

**Goku (SS3): 575,000,000**

**Bardock (SS2): 440,000,000**

**A/n: Sorry to the many fans that wanted to see a drawn out Evil Verto vs. Goku fight. I wanted to write it but it was going to interfere with the storyline the way I had it planned, therefore there wasn't much of a point to it. There will possibly be another Verto vs. Goku bout in the future, but not yet. Besides this one had to end this way to continue to show the extent of Verto's new powers and some of their limitations. The next time these two hook up, it will probably be the knock down drag out you all want to see. Next up though is Gohan, who is no pushover. This one is going to be a slobber knocker, I'm pretty sure ya'll knew it was going to come down to these two.**


	31. ZergVerto vs Gohan

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 30: Zerg-Verto vs. Gohan**

Zerg-Verto frowned slightly as he felt Gohan's power shootthrough the roof as the dust and rocks began to pelt him in the face. He didn't panic yet by any means, but he now knew it was wise to end the previous few fights so quickly, because Gohan was not going to make it easy on him. He measured Gohan's total power to his own, getting the feeling that he may be on the weaker end of things. This was confirmed quickly as Gohan's power level matched his own before rising a little higher and then topping out. His silver hair and bright blue eyes matched the intensity of Verto's, perhaps even more so. _Well if a fight with his father wasn't satisfying, then this fight certainly will be. I must come out on top._ _I doubt he will be able to stay in this form as long as I can, so I should push him to burn up his energy._

_Circling your,_

_Circling your,  
Circling your head_

_Contemplating everything you ever said  
Now I see the truth I got a doubt  
A different motive in your eyes and now I'm out  
See you later  
I see your fantasy, you want to make it a reality paved in gold  
See inside, inside of our minds, yeah  
Well now that's over…_

Verto charged a quick green energy blast and shot it at Gohan, who was now standing straight after powering up. Gohan deflected it by spreading out his aura, tearing up the ground beneath him. Verto was than a bit surprised by this, but had to shield himself from the rocks and the debris Gohan was now throwing at him with his energy. Verto phased out and reappeared in the air, ready to fire another round at Gohan. When he looked again though, Gohan was already gone. Verto was instantly sent to the ground by a strong knife hand from behind. He recovered quickly and spun to fire a blast, only to see Gohan vanishing right before his eyes. He was floored again by a sharp kick to the back. He quickly landed and let the Zerg genes heal the new bruises he just received. Gohan was standing not ten feet away, as calm and collected as a quiet pond.

"So you've mastered Instant Transmission eh, no surprise I guess. I suppose you're going to need everything in the cheap moves book to win this fight," Verto said, trying to get Gohan a little edgy.

"You're one to talk about cheap moves," Gohan replied with an extremely serious tone.

"If you like I'll use the same technique I just used on Kakarot. Like father, like son right?" Verto cocked a grin.

"Try all you want, you're not going to win this fight," Gohan said, charging up his aura again. Verto waved him on, daring his attack. Gohan charged in quickly and shot a strong punch towards Verto's face. Verto ducked down and returned the attack to Gohan's chest. Gohan blocked and kneed Verto sharply in the face. Verto floated in the air, stunned, before Gohan unloaded a furious assault of punches and kicks all over. Verto bounced off the ground a few times before lying motionless on the ground. Gohan didn't give chase, only waited patiently for him to get up again. He did after about ten seconds, breathing a little hard. A few trickles of blood ran down his face, but soon dried as the wounds healed themselves. He wiped off what had run down, somewhat amazed.

"I must say, I'm surprised. You do have some power in you," Verto said, again trying to rile Gohan up.

Gohan didn't budge, "Your arrogance is misguided. You aren't going to play with my head. You're obviously not as smart as the real Verto, he would know that!" Zerg-Verto growled a bit, but kept his resolve.

"Fine then Gohan, let's get going!" Verto then phased in and out as he charged in with a power punch ready to take Gohan's head off. Gohan sent one of his own at Verto's fist, causing a collision of power to expend itself and knock both warriors back a bit. They both recovered fast and rushed at each other again, trying again to punch the other out. This time when both fists collided, they both punched forward with the opposite hands. Same result with a collision. Verto and Gohan then clasped hands together and pushed with all their might against the other, trying to get a power advantage. No give on either side caused both fighters to power up more, throwing their energy at each other.

_I see your motives inside  
decisions to hide_

_Back off I'll take you on  
Headstrong to take on anyone  
I know that you are wrong  
Headstrong we're Headstrong  
Back off I'll take you on  
Headstrong to take on anyone  
I know that you are wrong  
and This is not where you belong_

_I can't give everything away  
I won't give everything away  
_

The other fighters hung on for a minute or two before finally just hovering in the air. The land shook violently as Verto and Gohan's powers clashed with each other. Bardock had managed to wake Goku up not long after the fight began. Goku was disappointed with himself for not sensing Verto's attack until it was too late, but it wasn't an attack he had ever encountered, so that made him feel a little better about it.

"They feel about even," Tora said.

"Take away that energy the boy absorbed and Gohan is all over him. All Gohan has to do is wear him down a little and he will have the advantage. It won't take long at this rate," Bardock said. Vegeta and Goku only looked on as the clash began to really tear up the grounds. A large crack in the ground soon opened up right beneath their feet. Verto and Gohan glanced down at the same time, realizing what was going to happen. They separated and jumped back as a large canyon opened up, allowing a hot spring of lava to funnel out. They stood away but on either side of it, waiting for the other to make a move, and having the same general idea on what they wanted to do.

Gohan phased out just as Verto took a sidestep. Verto didn't move and elected to track him with his senses. He didn't sense him reappear right away at a different location and thus knew it wasn't instant transmission. He struggled to find him, but eventually did and blocked the blow aimed for his head with both arms. Verto dodged out of the way as Gohan pushed through into his block, but wasn't prepared for the small blast that followed. Gohan jumped at the stunned Saiyan but hit ground when Verto got out of the way. Before Gohan could stand up again, Verto fired a medium sized blast at him. Gohan vanished the instant he saw it, blowing up the target spot and expanding the size lava pool that was forming nearby. Verto found him far away in the air and began to gather power to his right hand, then to his two fingers. Gohan gasped slightly when he saw what was forming, but stood ready to dodge out of the way.

"Special Beam Cannon!" Verto shouted, firing the now green corkscrew beam. Gohan stood confident, dodging out of the way easily. Gohan stared back at Verto, wondering why he would use that attack from such a distance until he saw the smirk on Verto's face. Gohan spun just in time to see the green beam coming back at him. Gohan's eyes widened, but he took off flying fast just as the beam arrived. He glanced back to see Verto shift his hand and sensed the beam change direction, coming at him again. It reformed into an orb when he changed it's direction again, and came spinning towards him.

"Great," he muttered. He remembered training with Goku on what to do against this kind of attack, and proceeded to fly around Verto's position, but not closing in on him. As he expected, Verto's attack chased him down while he circled. Verto seemed unaware as to what he was trying to do to him. He then changed direction and came straight at Verto, who kept a sharp scowl while he focused the ball to change direction again. Gohan came right up to him with a sharp grin, using instant transmission to escape right when the beam reached them. He reappeared about fifty feet behind his stopping point, to see the fruits of his labor. The attack stopped abruptly when it hit Verto, and then sat in a concentrated ball right in front of him.

"So much for that," Gohan said as he observed what would happen next. Verto brought his palms up and held the ball, adding more mixed energy to it. Gohan then turned slightly to realize that he was directly between the other fighters and Verto, and there was something big about to come his way. Verto charged up to the point where a majority of his energy was now in his hands. _This is going to burn up all that extra ki I absorbed, but if it works it won't matter. Then maybe I can conserve the Cerebrate's extra Psi. _

"You might be able to avoid this one, Gohan, but then your friends and family might not be as lucky! Super Galic Gun!" Verto shouted, releasing a huge beam that tore a path right to Gohan.

"Oh crap," Gohan said, flying back a little to get a distance from it. He sensed that if he let it blow up here, it could easily blow them all away, maybe take part of the planet with it. Once he was about halfway back to his group, he stopped and put up his hands, charging them up with all the energy he could muster. The beam struck against his hands and pushed him back before he managed to stop himself and the beam's advance. Verto shut off the supply and watched as Gohan struggled with his large mixed energy ball. Gohan gritted his teeth, pulling up even more power to push against the ball. He managed to hold himself up enough to send the rest of his energy to his foot, kicking up sharply and sending the unstable ball into the sky, where it blew up seconds later. It covered the skies with a bright green explosion that cleared out all of the all ash clouds and created a small indention of the ground for about a mile around.

Gohan stared at it with his limbs hanging loosely, panting very hard and dropping his silver lit aura. Verto himself was tired after that blast, his extra-added power had been sent out and his power level had dropped back down to just below where he had been during the fight with Vegeta. That didn't bother him though. Two things had successfully come about because of that attack. He could now stop drawing the Cerebrate's energy to keep his power level up, and Gohan's level had dropped much farther than his, and everyone knew it. He watched as Gohan dropped to one knee, breathing and moaning hard now, he was done.

_Conclusions manifest your first impression's got to be your very best  
I see your full of shit and that's alright  
That's how you play I guess you get through every night  
Well now that's over  
I see your fantasy you want to make it a reality paved in gold  
See inside, inside of our minds, yeah  
Well now that's over_

"Looks like I've won Gohan, I can sense that your power is slipping. Give up now!" Verto declared as he slowly walked towards Gohan. Gohan though stood up sharply as he struggled to breathe.

"I don't give up Verto, you know that!"

Verto shrugged, "Yeah, but a good villain always says it!"

"Why are you doing this, why listen to the Zerg? You despised them!" Gohan asked, trying to buy time by getting Verto to talk.

"I do despise the Zerg, Gohan, I always have. But you don't know me like you think. The Overmind disposed of your weakling friend and set me free. Once you and the others are taken care of, he will release his hold on this body and I will be truly free to do my own conquering!" Zerg-Verto said, chuckling a little. Gohan managed to get his breathing under control as Verto walked up to about twenty feet away. He then scanned Verto all over so he could check his energy level. He found a mysterious spark reoccurring around Verto's brain. He had felt it before Verto absorbed Vegeta's attack, now he felt it again. It felt purely good, despite being surrounded by evil.

"You're wrong, he isn't gone! I sense him, you're the weakling if you can't!" Gohan dared.

Verto glared back at him, "Oh he is definitely gone Gohan, perhaps that last attack messed up your keen senses. You might be detecting my insurance policy. But there is no more of the Verto you once knew, just me!"

Gohan smirked, "You're a fool then, you can never be rid of him. He will flush you out eventually, he is the stronger half after all!"

The glare turned into a fit of rage, "He isn't stronger you half-breed twerp! He is a weakling with a false destiny! He doesn't compare to me and never will!" Zerg-Verto shouted now, getting a little hot under the collar. Gohan expected a power up of some sort, seeing a bit of ball lightning appear in Verto's hands and around his legs. When he sensed the energy from it though, it wasn't coming from the Verto ahead of him, but within him. Zerg-Verto was fuming until he saw what Gohan was staring at, and he quickly calmed down. Gohan saw that once Verto got his emotions back under control, the energy faded. _So that's how, I gotta get him very angry and then maybe we'll get the real Verto back!_

Zerg-Verto was through with it as he dropped into a stance, "Time to finish this Gohan, you're going to get wiped out!"

Gohan stood up straighter, "Yeah, you're right, and you've given me just enough time!" He then called on his Psi to cover his body. He glowed bright blue all over as his silver aura reappeared around him. Verto felt his power going back up from where it was, but also saw his hair go black again. His eyes stayed blue though in his regular Mystic form as his ki rose to its maximum.

"What the...?" Verto dared ask. Gohan's body then quit glowing blue and his silver aura remained with occasional lightning streaking through him as his eyes faded to black once again.

"You like? It's my new technique, Recharge!" Gohan said with a sharp grin. Verto frowned slightly, Gohan's energy balance had slipped completely, but his ki was back to normal as well, which by itself was now higher than Verto's total power.

"How did you do that," Verto asked, curious for an explanation.

"I don't know if you knew or not, but my energies aren't as balanced as yours. I have just as much Psi, but a lot more ki. Using Super Mystic is more of a pain for me, as I have to keep the rest of my ki under wraps. However when I burn too much of my combined power up, I can use my Psi to not only bring it out, but replenish my lost ki. I may lose the extra power from the higher form, but I can now fight without straining myself and I don't have to concentrate as much. Almost the opposite of what you did earlier. Hope you're ready!" Gohan challenged as he dropped into his own stance. Verto frowned at this latest development, he hadn't expected it. He thought he played his cards decently well to outwit Gohan since he was on the lower end of the power scale. Making Gohan block against his attacks and burn up his energy sounded good since there was no way Gohan was going to go toe to toe with him due to a lack of experience with the Super Mystic form. He also considered trying the same thing Gohan did, but he didn't have extra ki stored away, and that would be pointless because he would be much lower in power than he was now. Also, Gohan had seen him absorb a big blast once already, the odds of him firing a big one at him when he was ready were slim. The other problem was the child body, even with the Zerg cells he couldn't get that high without a transformation. _So much for that crap plan._

_  
I see your motives inside  
decisions to hide_

_Back off I'll take you on  
Headstrong to take on anyone  
I know that you are wrong  
Headstrong we're Headstrong  
Back off I'll take you on  
Headstrong to take on anyone  
I know that you are wrong  
and This is not where you belong  
_

Gohan charged Verto; arriving faster than the smaller Saiyan could react. He kicked Verto directly in the chest, and then followed up with a punch to the temple. Verto dropped harshly to the ground, the side of his head was bleeding badly. Gohan punched his midsection a few times before grabbing his leg and swinging him around and around. Verto was suffering from a bad headache and now dizziness before Gohan let him go, right into the large lava pool that had formed. Verto plunged into it, but emerged very quickly with smoldering Zerg cells covering his body. Some of them even dripped off from being melted by the hot lava. Verto powered up some to cool off, and the Zerg cells struggled a bit before helping to regenerate his outer shell. Once cooled off, he spotted Gohan high in the air. Gohan was drawn back for the attack his father was famous for.

"Verto, its time to end this! KA-ME-HA.." he began. Zerg-Verto dropped back in a similar stance, he felt he could at least stand up to this attack and try to stall it so he could try absorption, it might be the only option now.

"Super Galic Gun..." Verto said as the teal colored beam gathered in his hands.

"MEH!" Gohan continued his long chant. Verto narrowed his eyes, _Gohan's attack should be complete since he's no longer Super Mystic, even if he's going full._ His answer came a moment later when Gohan's figure vanished.

"HAAAAA!!!!" came from directly behind him. He didn't even have time to blink before the beam hit him full force. The combined effort of Gohan's Kamehameha and the Super Galic Gun that had been forming in Verto's hands caused two huge explosions that had Verto trapped between them both. Gohan and the others shielded themselves from the ferocious light and wind kicked up by the power display. Gohan heard a very loud scream underneath the blinding light, barely noticeable with the roar of the energy explosion. Once the smoke and dust cleared, Gohan spotted Verto sprawled out in the middle of a figure-eight shaped crater. He was done and about out, dropped out of Super Mystic form. Gohan flew down to his former friend just as the others did. He then noticed something different. Verto now looked more normal than he had. His face was a pale but normal skin color, and his hair was shorter again. His body was now bare except for a spandex set of shorts that had somehow survived, not to mention a battered looking form. His tail was still dark green in color, but other than that, the Zerg cells had been completely blown off.

"It's over. I'm sorry, bro," Gohan whispered to the fallen Saiyan.

_I can't give everything away, This is not were you belong  
I won't give everything away_

**-**

The others dropped down just behind Gohan before walking up and looking over the child, who was not moving.

"Is he...?" Goku asked.

"No dad, but he's done moving for a while. His blast combined with mine must have really done a number on him, it's amazing he wasn't killed!" Gohan exclaimed in slight wonder.

"Must have been the Zerg cells that protected him from most of it. Unlike Borgos, they made Verto tougher!" Tora pointed out.

"It's probably because of his energy, Zerg cells and Psi don't really connect too well. So it probably preserved his natural hardness," Gohan explained.

"And there's always a chance that they'll grow back. We should take him back to the ship and see what Tassadar can do for him," Bardock suggested. Everyone then perked up to a lower power approaching from the direction of the Protoss ship.

Vegeta instantly growled slightly, "Once again, bad timing girl." The girl in question then landed before the group, not seeing Verto right away.

"Hey guys, you find Verto? I sensed a lot of fighting up here?" Fasha asked innocently enough. Gohan and Bardock kept their grim looks as they both stepped aside, giving her a full view of the fallen child. Her somewhat cheerful appearance didn't last as she rushed over to Verto, who was barely breathing.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"I had to blast him, and he had one of his own blow up in his hands. He's lucky to be alive. I'm sorry Fasha, but I had to do it. He's evil now!" Gohan explained. Fasha didn't have one of the better reactions, and luckily Gohan was all powered up, so her constant barrage of punches to his body had little affect. Bardock and Goku managed to pull her off, but she was still mad as a hornet at Gohan. She went through an array of curses and threats before Vegeta stepped between them in slapped her sharply across the face. She shut up abruptly.

"Listen girl, we anticipated that this could happen. He's not dead, so don't go off like a loose cannon. We may be able to help him!" Vegeta shouted.

"I'm still gonna tear him a new one!" Fasha growled one more time. Gohan didn't seem to care, he felt bad about hurting his friend, but he had to do it.

"If you want to commit suicide that's your business," Vegeta said. Suddenly Verto coughed up a large amount of blood before shifting around in pain, groaning and cringing. His whole body flinched and his back arched up as if something was just itching to get out of him it seemed.

"What's happening Vegeta?" Goku asked.

"How should I know?" Vegeta grunted as he watched in wonder. Fasha leaned down next to Verto, trying to get him to calm down.

"Verto, what's wrong?" she asked. He managed to shove her hand off before his eyes popped wide open and he struggled to breathe again.

"Look, they are growing back!" Tora pointed out. Indeed, the Zerg cells were beginning to reform on Verto's body, starting at the tail root before climbing down his legs and all the way up to his face. They continued to reform and regenerate before ending in his hair, making it grow back out a little. Verto choked constantly in between screams of pain as the Zerg tissues replaced themselves. Verto's pain ended after about a minute and he jumped up and back, looking at himself in disbelief.

_I know I know all about_

_I know I know all about_

_I know I know all about your motives inside and your decisions to hide  
_

_Great, this Zerg thing is going to be hard to get rid of later, _Zerg-Verto thought as he saw that he was still alive. He would have preferred his Zerg attachments to be permanently gone when he felt them burn off, but they had saved his life. Some of his ki had been restored as well, but he was still very exhausted. Most of his Psi supply was gone, save for the Cerebrate's extra stash. He knew that wouldn't make a bit of difference now. Then he glanced up at the other Saiyans in front of him, and Fasha wasn't five feet away.

"Fa-Fasha?" he asked in wonder.

"Yeah, I'm here. It's gonna be okay," she held out her arms to embrace him.

He backed up a step or two, "No, stay back, you'll only get yourself hurt!" Fasha held a worried expression, everyone else was speechless at what was unfolding.

"Verto, it's me, you're safe!" she said, stepping towards him more.

He backpedaled again, "No Fasha, I'm not the Verto you know, you must stay away! Leave this planet now!" Everyone was left clueless at this development, but watched in surprise as Verto then powered up and flew off into the distance quickly. Fasha looked ready to cry, but powered up as well to chase after him.

"No Fasha, don't follow!" Bardock called to her.

She stopped herself to this, "But why?"

"Because that really isn't the Verto we know," Gohan began.

"How can that be?" she cried. Gohan then began a lengthy explanation as to what he believed was wrong.

"Somehow this evil was set free and his good side, the one that we know, was put away. I sensed it from him a while ago when he lost his emotional control, the good side tried to break out again. I suspect that this may have happened during his infestation somehow. This one is just as rebellious though, I doubt the Overmind can control him either way. I sensed a third presence in there also, its where he got his extra Psi from when he went beyond his form a while ago. I don't know what it is though, whatever it was it was fading fast. I think we should let things play out for now before giving chase guys. I really think Verto can break out on his own without our help. We should work on trying to eliminate the Zerg!" Gohan suggested.

"And what makes you think that boy, a guess?" Vegeta barked.

Gohan glared back at him, "Because he almost did Vegeta, did you see how emotional he just got before taking off. He's gonna break free, it's only a matter of time now. Let's get back to the ship!" Gohan said. Vegeta growled at the way his rival's son was spewing orders, but since he was the only one to really do anything against Verto, he accepted it for now. Fasha stared back at the direction Verto went before leaving herself. _Come back to us soon!_

_I can't give everything away  
I won't give everything away, this is not were you belong_

**-**

_"Headstrong" by Trapt_

**Power levels****:**

**Zerg-Verto: Super Mystic: 660,000,000; weakened: 480,000,000**

**Gohan: Super Mystic: 700,000,000; Mystic form after Recharge: 580,000,000**

**A/N: There's your winner, Gohan.**

**Everyone who was looking for that explanation as to why Verto got a bigger power up just got it. Gohan is about 60-40 with ki and Psi. Verto is pretty much 50-50. It was explained a few times before when Gohan was training, this time you got some numbers to go with it. The only big reason that Verto is still weaker is because he's a kid, simple reason there. If the power level junkies want to try to dispute my math, they can try, its very close to the actual percentages and that's all the further I am going to take it, so there!** **I imagine it's an easy guess as to who this new agent is, how he got there is a better question.**

**Next time on DBV: An Exhausted Zerg-Verto is punished by the Overmind and encounters his newest agent, who beats the snot out of him. Meanwhile, Gohan and the others receive a distress call from Artanis and rush out there to rescue the Dark Templar from the Zerg. Watch out Saiyans, this new agent of darkness is heading your way! Next Time!**


	32. The Overmind's New Weapon

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 31: The Overmind's New Weapon**

Zerg-Verto was flying away from the battle as quickly as he possibly could, despite being very tired. He hadn't expected that kind of emotional reaction to hit him. He remembered Fasha from Verto's memories, but he had forgotten about the bond they shared. Her face was enough of a reminder, never mind her voice. For that reason he left the battlefield as quickly as possible, he didn't want to risk hurting her. If he had, the emotional bond would tear him apart from the inside out and he knew it. He also feared that since he would be beyond enraged, his other self might find a way to break out and expel him. He was so focused on the sight of her that he didn't detect something flying straight at him in the air. Whatever it was, it packed a powerful blow to the back of the head, grounding him to his stomach right away. Verto cursed inwardly as he picked himself up and scanned the skies. He didn't detect anything there, but quickly picked up on something directly behind him. His tail however then straightened out and became stiff just as a huge wave of pain put him back to the ground like a bad case of gravity.

"_You have failed me once again Verto, and for that you will suffer pain beyond pain!"_ Verto growled a bit when heard the Overmind's voice in his mind.

"_You don't understand, I can't destroy them now. If that girl gets hurt or gets killed then this body will no longer be yours. I guarantee that!"_ Verto warned through his thoughts.

"_Your race's emotional bonds mean nothing to me! Your orders to terminate the Dark Templar were not followed and now you were unable to dispose of your Saiyan friends despite superior power. I have no room for subordinates that cannot follow their orders just because of emotional attachment!"_

Verto snorted slightly despite being pinned to the ground by paralysis, _"Go ahead and kill me then, they'll just wish me back. Free of your control!"_

"_Kill you? My boy, death is too good for you! Your punishment will make death seem like a blessing, I promise you that!"_ the Overmind chuckled in his thoughts.

"_What are you planning to do then, beat me within an inch of my life? Good luck finding someone who can do that!" _Verto replied, suddenly picturing a bunch of Zerglings trying to beat on him.

It was the Overmind's turn to be creative though, "_No, my boy, you don't understand how far down your Zerg genes can go. Do you recall that the sensitivity genes for your tail were toned down a bit? They are now fully active. One little pinch will put you down from now on. Not only that, but I do have someone who can and will beat you to the edge of life over and over again until you realize the futility of your ways. He will also dispose of your Saiyan friends for me after he's done with you. I promise that you will be wishing for death within an hour. Now get up and receive your punishment from my knight!"_ the Overmind commanded. Verto's tail then released its hold, allowing him to get up. He took a slight breath and turned to see whom the Overmind had sent out.

His eyes popped wide open immediately, "You?! But...You're dead?!"

**Interlude 31.1: Saiyans **

"Welcome back my friends, did you have success in finding Verto out there? We detected your energy levels rising up and down, so we assumed there was quite a battle going on. How did it go?" Tassadar asked when Vegeta and the others touched down. He had been waiting for them outside the ship as a few of his probes were setting up some photon cannons for protection.

"Yeah, we found him, infested and all. He's gotten stronger since we left Earth, fortunately, so has Gohan. I'm sorry to say that only Gohan was able to beat him," Tora began, getting quite a glare from Vegeta.

"So you were forced to kill him then?" Tassadar dared to ask.

"No, when he saw Fasha he ran off. We believe that his dark side may have emerged as a dominant personality, but the rebellious instincts of a Saiyan are still there. I doubt the Overmind can control him at all. He still claims to despise the Zerg just as much as us. I think if we give him enough time that he will break away on his own. I sensed that the Verto we know is still in there somewhere," Gohan explained.

"That is because the real Verto is in there, and he is trying to get out!" a voice said from thin air. Everyone was startled by this sudden voice until it revealed itself from an invisible cloak. All at once Tassadar's Zealot guards turned on their Psi blades.

"Hey you're that girl, name's…"Gohan began.

"Kerrigan!" Tassadar said with pure distaste in his voice. The Zealots were stepping towards her with intent to exterminate before she put up her hands.

"I'm not here to fight with you! You must understand I came here on Verto's behalf, to make you realize what is going on!" she said in truth. The Saiyans seemed ready to listen, but not the Protoss.

"Your vile ways infect everything around you. Go back to your master before we send you to meet him!" Krator warned, a large Psi blade just dripping for action.

"Be silent Protoss, your kind's interference have caused enough chaos surrounding that young boy!" she shouted back. Krator stepped forward to silence her permanently, but Gohan stood between them.

"Hey you two, knock it off. Let's listen to what she has to say!" he said, giving a warning glance to both sides.

"Fine. But once you've said what you came to say, be gone from this place!" Tassadar barked at her.

"Can't wait," she wryly muttered before taking a seat on the ground. Gohan and Goku sat down as well, though the others remained standing. She then relayed the story surrounding Verto and the Cerebrate's failed fusion and how the evil one broke out due to the Overmind's influence. The other Saiyans were shocked at this, but the Protoss believed Verto to be completely under Zerg control.

"You don't understand, the Cerebrate he was fused with was sent here to be Verto's guide. I don't know who sent him, but the only link it had to the Overmind was the form of life it was given. Together, we had planned on getting Verto's new training done very quickly so he could rise up against the Overmind, but it seems that he already knew about it and used it to his advantage. The added Psi of the Cerebrate was to be used to destroy the creature, but I'm not sure he will use it that way. This evil version of Verto made a deal with the Overmind to be set free after the Protoss were destroyed on Auir!" Kerrigan explained further.

Tassadar now looked indifferent about this, "The Overmind does not know where our home world is Kerrigan, nor will it ever know until it is sent to Hell!"

Kerrigan glared at the Templar, "How little you know Tassadar! A tracking bug was planted on Aldaris' ship shortly before he escaped here about ten days ago!"

"Aldaris?!" Gohan suddenly said, almost enraged.

Kerrigan's alarmed look didn't last. "Yes, he was here, and Verto managed to beat him and even took a few limbs from him before he left!"

Vegeta grunted slightly, "I know the boy isn't that weak. Why didn't he finish the job?"

"I see that the arrogance of the Protoss has further rubbed off onto you Vegeta, or are you naturally that way? Aldaris has discovered how to use Psi the same way your kind uses ki. Verto was barely able to beat him and couldn't give chase because he was so exhausted after the battle!" she pointed out.

"What?!" just about everyone shouted at once.

Tassadar looked concerned, "So I was right. If Aldaris can really generate his energy like our friends here, he would be able to destroy just about anything in his path!" Vegeta had a truly disbelieving look to him at the moment, as did Tora.

"Correct, the main reason Verto was able to beat him was for two reasons. First Aldaris foolishly thought that he should use mixed energies like Verto and Gohan can, which then decreased his power because his Psi is so high in comparison and he couldn't balance it. The other reason is because Verto found out about what happened on Earth right before he escaped, I don't think I need to elaborate on that," Kerrigan explained. Several grunts and grimacing nods followed; Gohan's face had retreated to a depressed state.

"Then...Aldaris should have recovered by now. The Overmind wouldn't dare go to Auir even if he found its location. That kind of power would obliterate his broods!" Krator said.

"Well, he wasn't planning on going to Auir yet, and I believe Aldaris managed to get an interdimensional recall from an escape pod rather than using the ship's transmitter. But another of your kind managed to not only kill a Cerebrate, but in the process reveal Auir's location to the Overmind!" Kerrigan said with condensed dislike in her voice.

"Who would do that?" Tassadar asked.

"The Dark Templar!"

-

"I thought the Dark Templar were long extinct. I'm surprised to learn that some of them still live even now! It makes sense though," Tassadar said in wonder after Kerrigan explained what was going on with the Dark Templar and why they were there. Not to mention how Zasz had been killed, Gohan and the other Saiyans were very interested in that.

"So to kill the Overmind all I have to do is use a really strong mixed energy attack. Sounds easy enough!" Gohan said, standing now.

"Wait Gohan, you shouldn't go now, you should regain all of your power before we head out!" Goku said, holding his shoulder down.

"Yeah, we could head out in a few days when you're well rested!" Bardock suggested.

"No, don't go anywhere near the Overmind!" Kerrigan warned.

"Why not wench, afraid we will kill your precious master? Or that all of your pet Zerg will die off as a result?" Vegeta said with a threatening glare.

Kerrigan rolled her eyes at this, "No, it's not that. It's for your own good. First off I'm not sure that Gohan has enough to do it, and the Overmind has something, or should I say someone that will kill you if you attack it. Trust me, you don't want to attempt it. I'm not sure even Gohan and Verto combined could beat this guy now that the Overmind has him!" she warned.

"Who is it?" Goku asked. Kerrigan was about to tell them when she suddenly felt the energy levels around the planet shift around.

"Damnit, my time is up. I have to go before he realizes where I am. Don't worry about Verto right now, I'm sure he will break away from the Overmind's grip if you give him time. I suggest you let me handle it for now. I will contact you telepathically if there is anything you need to know. Farewell!" Kerrigan said as she promptly vanished into thin air and left the area undetected. All of the Saiyan's senses then perked up on a distant energy level flaring up.

"Hey, that's Verto! He feels much weaker than before, what's he fighting?" Goku asked. No one seemed to know until another power level popped up, much higher and even more vicious in feeling.

"Whoa, feel that. Man, what power!" Gohan said.

"I think it's as high as your Super Mystic form, but who is it? Whoever it is, it's gonna beat Verto, no problem!" Tora pointed out.

"Then we should go help him!" Fasha shouted, ending her silence during the discussion.

"We will do no such thing girl, for all we know that thing is much stronger than Gohan and we may be walking into a trap. We need to plan things out first!" Vegeta barked as Fasha was rising into the air. She huffed and pouted slightly, but obeyed.

"Everyone lower your power levels. We don't need them tracing us here. Tassadar, do you have long range scanners strong enough to pick up any activity in this area, no matter how insignificant?" Vegeta asked, taking charge of the operation.

"Yes, we are in the process of setting up a massive detection field along with a large array of photon cannons. We may not be able to call for assistance, but nothing is going to get through without taking at least some damage!" he boasted.

"Good, I suggest we rest for now and train some as well. Tomorrow, we should look for your Dark Templar friends. Perhaps they can assist us against the Zerg!" Vegeta said in a surprising tone. The other Saiyans were somewhat stunned at the notion of their prince perhaps needed help from others, but then again a lot of things had changed lately. Not only that, but Vegeta was a brilliant tactician and it was the logical choice at the moment.

"Krator, get those cannons up within the hour! We don't need whatever is out there to come in without warning!"

"Yes, Executor!"

**Interlude 31.2: Verto**

I had been searching the black void that was my mind for a long time before I found anything. I stopped once when I sensed the other me get mad at Gohan and it gave me a chance to try to power up again. If anything it let the others know that I was still around, just stuck. After watching and sensing him get beaten, something I was very glad to see, my heart sank when I saw Fasha for the first time since I left her that morning on Earth. It was when we joined up with the Protoss to fight the Zerg that day. If it hadn't been for that creep Aldaris, none of this would have happened. I sighed in relief when my evil half ran off. I felt lucky that he had been aware of that bond that we shared. Shortly afterward, I found a bright blue column of light going from ground to sky, if that's what you call it. That's when I found the Cerebrate. He still held my shape and form to an extent, but he was trapped within that light, floating a little off the ground, yet out cold from the looks of it.

"Great, now what?" I asked aloud.

"Hey, about time you found me!" Cerebrate said from inside the blue light. It felt like all Psi to me, just as I expected.

"Well, you're a little late. When he stopped using my extra energy, this containment field shot up again. Until he gets angry again or tries to access my power, you're still stuck!" he said.

I frowned, "You spent all that time trying to tell me that I would have to figure out how to escape, now you tell me directly?" I asked in a low tone.

"Like I said, I never said I was going to make it easy for you. Plus I had to make you understand that you can't just do it at any time. It's easier my way than your way!" he said with a happy sounding tone that resembled Goku.

I shook my head in disarray, "What about all that crap you told me about the Overmind just waiting for me to try to take my body back, is that a load of shit as well?" I more shouted than asked.

"No, that can still happen, but like you sometimes I tend to be overly cautious!" he said with a grin.

"I'm not like that! And to think you were supposed to be a big part of my personality. Argh, what is the other me up to now? All I can see is the dirt!" I said, pointing at the viewing ball that I had placed on the ground.

"Place your hand on the force field and you can read his thoughts along with me!" I put my hand against the blue light, getting a solid feeling from it. When I touched it, I picked up a conversation between my evil self and the Overmind. An argument was going on about the previous battle and the viewing ball lit up sharply again when he powered up to challenge whoever the Overmind had sent out to nab him. When the viewing ball shifted upwards with his eyes, I swear I felt my body's blood run cold with fear.

"No...way..." I managed to stutter when I saw who it was.

**Interlude 31.3 – Raynor's Raiders -**

"That's it boys, get this baby repaired n' back to the base camp and we will be sitting pretty good!" Raynor said as he watched the manned SCV units work hard on the outer hull of his battle cruiser.

"Captain Raynor, the generators are repaired. The ship has enough power to try to start the engine once its repaired!" a soldier came to report. Raynor nodded at this, continuing to watch the progress. Sergeant Kline watched from a few feet away, still disgusted with the idea of helping this outlaw.

"How do you plan to get past the Zerg and escape the planet when we only have this one ship?" Kline asked with a sour tone to his voice.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that all of you are assisting me then. Might get a little dicey," Raynor chuckled slightly.

"That wasn't meant as a joke, Captain Raynor! Answer the question!" Kline growled.

Raynor frowned slightly but didn't lead into it. "With any luck we will have some help from our Protoss friends on getting past the Zerg. The faster we get this done the faster we can go home!"

"You're going to ask for help from the Protoss? You might as well go try to take on all of the Zerg with this one ship, at least that makes a little more sense!" Kline said in surprise.

"They aren't as bad as they are made out to be, and they are mutual enemies of the Zerg. Besides, they already helped me out once. I plan to use this ship to return the favor. They have no way home right now and we are going to help them get home, or at least get off the planet. It beats trying to get back to Korhal with that lockdown that Duke more than likely has in place. You know what will happen should we try to get back there!" Raynor beamed slightly at Kline, who stared at the ground.

"Yeah, we will be shot down on appearance because of possible infestation by the Zerg. Any ship that is separated from the fleet on a Zerg controlled planet is to be destroyed right away, lockdown procedures," Kline mumbled out.

"There, you see," Raynor said in slight victory.

"Captain Raynor, what is that?!" a marine shouted from afar. The marine had been manning a small missile turret to watch out for any Zerg in the area, and had spotted a single flying figure a mile or two away. Everyone stopped to look at what he had pointed out. Raynor pulled up his binoculars to get a better look. He increased the magnification and got a good look at the figure. It was humanoid in shape, but had Zerg tissues covering it in places and its hair was a dark green color. That didn't really stand out too much, the fact that this creature had a furry tail and was flying very fast did. Raynor thought it was Verto for a second, but soon saw that this was an adult and had an evil grin the child couldn't possibly imitate if he tried.

"Should I shoot it down sir?" the soldier asked, arming the turret and locking on.

"No, don't, he hasn't seen us. Don't provoke him!" Raynor ordered as the marine stood ready.

"Do you know what that is?" Kline asked.

"No, but I've encountered something like it before though, and it's not something we should be messing with if we value our lives. Keep an eye out, but do not engage any targets without my order! We need to get this ship done and ready soon!" Raynor suggested. Kline grunted slightly and lazily wondered off into the ship. A small insect landed on his armor undetected as he went inside.

**Interlude 31.4 - Tassadar and Vegeta -**

"Executor, the defenses have been prepared as per your orders, your photon cannons are up and running!" Krator reported to Tassadar on the bridge of their carrier ship.

"Very good, now double the number of cannons that you set up," Tassadar ordered from the command chair.

"Are that many cannons necessary Executor? Surely it would take a great number of Zerg to get through all one hundred of them that we have set up!" Krator boasted.

"It's a precaution, judging by the energy levels we detected yesterday, we may have not seen the last of this Evil-Verto. Nor can we excuse the possibility of a stronger being out there. Even if that situation doesn't arise, it doesn't hurt to be prepared for it!" Tassadar explained.

"Of course Executor, I'll get right on it!" Krator bowed and left the bridge. Vegeta had been staring out one of the windows at the desolate land before turning around as Krator left.

"A wise course of action, however what we sensed would probably tear all of those little pee-shooters up with no problem!" he grunted. Tassadar would have rolled his eyes at the prince, but he probably wouldn't have detected it.

"We make due with what we have Prince Vegeta. Besides, they can detect any sort of movement or energy shift within twenty miles of this base, that is more than enough warning when we are at rest!" Vegeta grunted and turned back around, his way of agreeing to Tassadar's statement. The older Templar sighed and slumped slightly in his chair, he hadn't slept most of the night because of the prince's constant reminder that photon cannons probably wouldn't stop whatever was out there. What slightly alarmed Tassadar was the fact that he was probably right about that. Tassadar only hoped that Gohan could stop whoever or whatever this was; he was by far the strongest of their group. A loud beeping interrupted Tassadar's sigh of relief. One of his officers answered the beeping at the tactical station.

"Executor, we have a distress call coming in on audio only. It's coming from some sort of settlement about eight hundred miles away, a Protoss settlement!"

"Patch it in!" Tassadar ordered right away as Vegeta turned to listen himself.

"This is Praetor Artanis of the Protoss Armada, requesting assistance to anyone who can read this signal. We are being hit hard by the Zerg and we cannot hold out, this is a priority one distress call!" came the distressed Templar's voice.

Tassadar stood up, "Artanis, this is Tassadar, we read you loud and clear!"

"Executor, is it truly you? Praise Adun! We need your help right away! The Zerg are hitting us with numerous troops with many more on the way. They are here to destroy the Dark Templar, and we must not let this happen Executor! They are the key to defeating the Overmind! All of our transport spaceships have been destroyed and we are stranded out here. We have a few land transports, but not enough for all of us. Please come as soon as possible!" Artanis said in response, almost sounding desperate.

"Affirmative Artanis, transmit your coordinates. We should get there in about one hour, hold out as best you can!" Tassadar ordered.

"By the Kalah's will!" The transmission was then ended, with Vegeta releasing a massive grunt.

"Okay, start up the Gantrithor's engine, we are moving out!" Tassadar ordered as officers ran about to get to their stations.

"This is a bad idea Tassadar," Vegeta growled from the side of the bridge.

"And why is that?" the elder Templar sneered slightly.

"Because you risk destroying the only ship we have to get off this rock," Vegeta said, unfolding his arms.

"And what do you suggest we do then, we must help them!" Tassadar said.

"Yes, I know. The others and myself will go assist your friends. If these Dark Templar really know how to kill the Overmind than we must consult with them. However if you bring the ship we risk being stuck here for a long time. We will fly out there and arrive in a shorter amount of time! Besides, I suspect that we may see more than just Zerg out there," Vegeta said, heading for the elevator exit.

"Here, take this, this will identify yourselves to Artanis's troops and lead you to them as well!" Tassadar said, handing Vegeta a small computer pad. The Saiyan prince grunted at it before departing.

-

"We're almost there guys," Gohan said, following the direction on the computer pad that Vegeta had given to him to look after. All of the Saiyans had come with them to rescue the Protoss from the Zerg, so the journey there was quite fast as no one was flying below Super Saiyan.

"Where exactly are they from here? I don't see any sign of a settlement, just mountains and ash," Tora said, glancing around ahead of them.

"I'm sure all that we need to do is follow the trail of Zerg to know that, keep your blasts at a minimum until we do find them. We can ill afford to kill off these Dark Templar if they indeed have the key to kill the damned Overmind! Once we find them, terminate the Zerg quickly so we can return to the ship. I don't like the idea of leaving it out there without sufficient protection!" Vegeta ordered to everyone. It wasn't long after that they spotted a large group of Zerg flyers floating above what remained of a large statue carved out of a mountain. Below in the canyon were hundreds of groundlings, mostly the smaller Zerglings and Hydralisks, but there were a few of the larger elephant like Ultralisks roaming about. They were all trying to get in a smaller cave opening where several dozen Protoss troops were holding them off.

"Alright guys, I'll lure them away!" Gohan said as he tossed the computer pad to Vegeta before powering up and charging in first He quickly gained the sudden attention of the Zerg with some Psi output. He flew by and glanced back to see that the Zerg were indeed following him like zombies, the Protoss on the ground were soon left alone there. Gohan waited until the Zerg had come out of the canyon and into the wide open. He quickly dropped some of his ki level and then brought it out together with the Psi level, powering himself up to Super Mystic. The Zerg quickly stopped in wonder before charging at him again. Gohan released an invisible energy field around himself composed of mixed power that covered the lands and air where the Zerg were charging in. Once it expanded outward to engulf them all, he pushed it through all of them quickly. All of the Zerg that were stampeding towards him dropped dead where they were, some simply exploding as their bodies could not handle that type of energy being thrown at them, no matter how strong. He had learned how to do this back on Earth. It was as simple as powering up, just releasing more power out from himself. It was very similar to the technique Verto had used on his father, but greatly toned down and without the lightning. Gohan doubted that what he did would do much more than a minor shock to a normal human. Luckily the Zerg were extremely vulnerable to it. Once they were down and Gohan had scanned around to check for more, he powered back down and flew back to the canyon. There, Vegeta and the other Saiyans were talking with the Protoss. Vegeta handed them the computer pad that Tassadar had given them and it was transferred to a younger Templar that had emerged.

"I am Praetor Artanis, you are the same type of creatures that the infested boy is! You came here with Executor Tassadar?" Artanis asked.

"I take it you encountered him, that would explain why this mountain looks pretty ragged out. You don't know how lucky you are," Bardock said in observance.

"The mountains are nothing compared to some of the blood stained walls inside, where is Tassadar's ship?" Artanis asked.

"It's not coming, we flew out here ourselves and will return the same way. If you have some land transports you will need to come with us. Tassadar wants to meet these Dark Templar, as do I," Vegeta explained.

"We only have a few transports, not enough for one trip. Prelate Zeratul, leader of the Dark Templar awaits us inside. Come my friends, we shall gather ourselves before holding a grand celebration for the return of the true Executor Tassadar!" Artanis declared. All of the Saiyans then perked up to a sudden energy surge coming straight for them.

"Praetor, we are detecting a powerful energy signature coming straight for us, it's energy is similar to the boy we encountered! We should take shelter inside!" a zealot suggested.

Gohan got a better sense of things than they did, "No, get your land transports up and get ready to evacuate to Tassadar's ship. We will handle this!" he ordered the Protoss before ascending up the mountain side and jetting out towards the vast plain filled with dead Zerg. There he landed as the other Saiyans followed him out there.

"It's him, isn't it? It's whoever Verto was fighting against yesterday?" Fasha asked.

"Yeah, looks like we're about to find out who it is. Be prepared for anything, guys!" Gohan shouted. The figure in question arrived a few minutes later, descending and landing about forty feet away, more than close enough to identify him. When he came into view though, all of the Saiyans' jaws dropped open in shock.

"No way," Tora whispered.

"How in the hell," both Vegeta and Bardock uttered. Goku, Fasha and Gohan kept it to a mild gasp without words. The figure stepped forward, letting a very evil cackling laugh go as he did.

"Impossible, he's dead!" Vegeta said in true fear.

"Afraid not my mistaken prince. I am the legendary Super Saiyan, nothing can kill me!" he said.

Gohan managed to contain his fear better than the others, "All right then, just what do you want, Broly?"

**A/N: I wonder how many of you actually figured out that it was Broly? It wasn't hard to see it. How did he come back, the answers are coming.**


	33. Verto's Decision

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 32: Verto's decision**

Broly's loud cackle continued for easily a minute while the other Saiyans stood there, stunned. To them it was unmistakable that Broly was alive right in front of them. Everyone also recalled seeing Broly blow his entire body up in an effort to take the Overmind out back on Earth. There was not one trace of him left after that explosion. Yet here he was, his skin a little on the green side. From the waist down he was drenched in Zerg tissues that appeared to be a hardened armor. His arms and chest were for the most part barren, except for a few little strips of Zerg cells. His hair was just as long as before, dark green in color as it flowed off of his head and halfway down his back.

"You can't be here, we all watched you die!" Gohan shouted at him. Broly then stopped laughing momentarily and simply cocked a nasty grin.

"You are correct, son of Kakarot, I did die. But as you can see I have been restored!" he said, spreading his arms a little.

"How?" Goku asked before anyone else could.

Broly chuckled, "I don't see how it matters now, but since the same thing may happen to you soon. I will enlighten your little troopers here! As I was told, after the explosion I was indeed gone. However my master, the Overmind, managed to find some blood residue nearby, enough in which to create a clone. I am that clone, though I have been made smarter, faster, tougher and all in all more powerful than the original Broly. I will replace his legacy as the ultimate Saiyan killing machine! Prepare yourselves, you will be the first to taste my new power!"

Gohan frowned deeply, "In other words your just as insane as the original Broly once was!"

"If that is what you think of the perfect warrior, then yes I am. Your friend Verto has learned the hard way not to cross the Overmind, and now you six will learn the same lesson that I taught him!" Broly declared. All six Saiyans dropped into a fighting stance, not yet powering up.

Broly laughed at this. "You have no chance at winning this fight, you should simply give up!"

Gohan grinned back now. "You're not much of a clone. The real Broly would know that we – never – give -up!" Gohan yelled sharply as he summoned his Super Mystic form, pushing for as much power as he could muster with it. The other Saiyans backed off slightly, seeing that Gohan was going to take care of this one. Broly narrowed his eyes slightly, getting a feel of Gohan's power. Once Gohan was done powering up, Broly took his turn at it. The skies darkened a bit as the gold and green aura surrounded Broly as his power grew sharply. His hair flashed a brighter green before turning more gold and standing straight out. His eyes turned from black to green like usual, before vanishing completely into white. Broly's body mass increased dramatically, making him taller and bulkier than before, much like his Ultra Super Saiyan form. His power grew more as the wind from his energy pushed the other Saiyans back. Gohan stood up to it without much trouble, but it did make his hair go crazy. When Broly was done, even Gohan was stunned at the power he was sensing from the overgrown Super Saiyan.

"Incredible, how did his power get so big? Even Borgos didn't get this strong when he was infested!" Tora pointed out.

"Oh man, I think he's stronger than Gohan," Bardock dared to say. Gohan wasn't phased much by this statement, but he could tell that Broly's power was definitely as high as his, maybe more so. _Great, that fight I had with Verto is gonna seem so much easier after this one is done!_ Gohan thought to himself. Broly laughed at the looks of dismay on his former brethren's faces.

"Don't worry, your deaths will be as painful as possible!" he said before flying quickly towards Gohan.

**Interlude 32.1: Evil and Good Verto**

Zerg-Verto slowly awoke from a pain filled slumber. He awoke in a dark and slimy room that was part of the Zerg hive he had called home lately. He got up off the floor only to wince in pain when he got to a standing position. His back and chest ached badly, more than he could ever remember. He glanced down to wonder why, seeing that there were deep cuts of clotted blood all over his chest and stomach. _Wait a sec, why was I bleeding badly enough for that? The Zerg cells are supposed to regenerate me!_

He glanced down to notice that most of his body was barren of Zerg tissue, with the exception of his tail. He reached behind to feel some of the surface of his lower back and then up along his neck, finding similar blood clots in long and deep incisions. Then he remembered what had happened. He was taken out of the air and pushed around a bit by the Overmind. The tail weakness was back and he was none to pleased about it. After the hold was released, he rose to meet what the Overmind referred to as his knight. When he saw him though, he shook with fear. Then he remembered trying to face him. It was over before it began because of all the energy he had used in his previous fights. What made it worse was the fact that his Zerg cells once again were blown off by a strong energy blast, but saving his life in the most painful way. Not only that, but they still hadn't come back to at least allow him to breathe without wheezing. The rest had been a black and red blur of a beating. He rubbed his still sore head, feeling all the bumps and bruises that covered it. _Broly, of all the Saiyans that he could bring back he chose that one!_ Verto thought, punching the floor slightly.

_I am no match against Broly, even with my added powers. I don't think I can absorb enough ki to power up to past his level even with the Cerebrate's extra Psi, I need more training. But how am I going to get away, it's hopeless!_ He continued this mental argument with himself as the chamber opened up. He scowled when he saw who walked in.

"I see you're feeling slightly better," Kerrigan said with a deep frown.

"Leave me alone wench, I don't want your help!" Verto growled. Kerrigan ignored him and stood right in front of him.

"I said go!" he shouted again. A hard slap connected a half second later. It happened to hit a sore spot of his cheek, causing him to grab it by instinct.

"How dare you," he said, ready to blow her to kingdom come.

"Be silent Verto, if that is truly your name. You have done enough damage to this situation!" she shouted right in his face.

He grinned slightly, "So you know what truly happened eh, I guess your mental abilities aren't completely overrated are they?"

"Shut up. I don't know how the Overmind convinced you to join him, but I guess you are as dumb as you look. He is just going to use you until he is through with the Protoss, then you can kiss your life goodbye! I'm sure you have figured out by now that you're never going to be free, just a puppet for his entertainment!" she said harshly. His arrogant grin vanished quickly as he thought over what she had said.

"He can't! Oh, I've been such a trusting fool!" Verto said, punching the floor some more, causing it to bleed now.

"No doubt you got that from your better half. I suggest that you two reconcile your differences if you are to get out of this!" Kerrigan beamed at him. He looked up at her, stunned that she would suggest that.

"Ha, no way that weakling is never taking this body again. He doesn't know how to use it properly, nor can he control the potential it has! And what is his goody-goody attitude going to do against Broly's kind of power? You might as well kill me now if I have to resort to that!" Zerg-Verto laughed at the idea.

"Oh really, is that why the Overmind feared him so much! Didn't know that? Well surprise, surprise, it should have been obvious even to someone as dense as you! The way he was training himself before Aldaris got here sure left an impression, I'll tell you that much. The Overmind knew that you were the weaker half and decided to exploit it, knowing that a Saiyan like you would be easy to control. Still want me to kill you?" she asked sweetly, raising a single hand. Zerg-Verto stared at the ground in dismay, he had indeed been played for a fool this entire time.

"Now I suggest you two get your broken personalities back together if you are going to break free, otherwise you can count on an eternity of torture. He isn't going to let you off by bliss of death!" she ordered sternly.

"Forget it. Even if it were possible, that pacifistic weakling isn't going to do any good out here now. All he can do is try to talk someone out of a fight! He isn't a true warrior!" Verto argued back. Kerrigan sighed slightly, placing one finger onto Verto's forehead and pressing hard. He tried to shake her off, but his injuries were too painful to allow it.

"I beg to differ young one, you don't know him as well as you think. I happen to think your other half is the only true warrior that has emerged, you should go and get to know him!" she shouted at the end as a white Psi charge came from her finger into Verto's forehead.

"No way, he is the weakling, and he will fail..." he gasped as he collapsed into her arms without another movement. She sighed as she laid him down on the ground, _I hope this works._

-

I was sitting nearby the Cerebrate's containment field**,** trying to figure out when my other self was going to wake up just so I could see the extent of my body's injuries. I had seen the Zerg tissues get blown off several times by Broly's energy blasts. What was scary was the fact that he was using low power ki blasts to do it. With my other self so low on power, he could literally just beat the crap out of him over and over again. In fact, that is what he did, he waited for the Zerg cells to regenerate a bit, and then he would blow them off again and beat him senseless. I wasn't sure how long it went on, because my evil half passed out midway. The Cerebrate had been quiet for a long time, and appeared to be asleep as well. He mentioned once that he had to recharge some of his energy and the only way to do it was to sleep while my evil self slept. That made for a very lonely time in the black void that was my mind. I tried to meditate a bit to pass the time, but I just couldn't, I was too distracted by the whole situation. After what seemed like hours and hours of nothing, my other self woke up. I saw that my body was littered with scars now; the Zerg tissues were not regenerating it at all. _Great, I'm sure that'll look good from now on._

Shortly afterward he got into some sort of argument with Kerrigan, but the Cerebrate was still asleep it seemed, so I had no idea what was going on. I put my hand on the solid force field like chamber, getting nothing at all back. I sighed and slumped down against it, wondering how I was going to get out. A bright white flash then went off in front of me, very bright. I covered my eyes to see what it was as I stood up. The light vanished quickly, but it its place appeared to be my other self. His body was hovering a bit and was transparent, meaning I could still see the black void behind him. His body though was covered in a dim silver light. His eyes opened and blinked a few times, before locking onto me.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted at me.

I crossed my arms, "You tell me, dipshit!" He seemed surprised that I would answer him like that, but disregarded it quickly.

"Must be that bitch's doing, I'll kill her when I get back out there!" he said, looking around.

"What did Kerrigan do, slap some sense into you?" I asked, not resisting the urge to laugh a bit. He blushed slightly, getting a little ticked at that remark.

"So, what do you want? Haven't you done enough to my life? You trapped me here like you and big ugly wanted! You've ruined my life and betrayed my friends. I can't stop you, so what else do you want huh?" I asked, much more serious this time.

"Look, you hate me, I despise you. But it seems that we are going to have to work together to overthrow the Overmind. I can't believe that I'm going to ask this, but will you join with me?" he asked in a slightly sorrow filled voice.

I stared at him like he was crazy, "You mean re-fuse?"

"No, you and I were barely one to begin with. I was formed from the energy of extreme bloodthirsty anger and hatred that Saiyans are known to give off and I was given more from with the negative energy from the dragon wish. What I am suggesting is that we fuse for good. As I see it the only way we can override this control over our body is to combine our efforts to overthrow the Overmind!" he suggested.

I gave it a thought, "So you really think we can gain that much power?" I asked.

He looked stumped now, but I could see a shift with his body movement, "No, we won't gain any power from it right away, but our hidden power potential should increase, and we will no longer have a split mind. We will be able to focus our power to destroy that damned thing once and for all, then once he's out of the way we will be free to do what we want!" His face suddenly shifted to a gasp when he realized that he said way too much. It didn't help that I could see through his words easily, I always shifted nervously when I lied through my teeth.

"Forget it, I'd rather it remained this way if it meant giving in to your little urges and power trips. I have to remain true to myself and not what some split personality thinks!" I said with a glare before turning my back to him.

He appeared in front of me again though, "No-no-no-no-no, forgive me. That's just an old habit that I can't seem to help saying sometimes. I need you, otherwise all our friends may suffer the consequences! What would Vegeta think of this cowardice you are displaying!" he said, suddenly serious.

"You apparently don't understand me like you think you do! First of all, old habits are not easily broken! It sounds to me like I'd just be turning another monster loose from his chains, I don't intend to do that again! Secondly, you say our friends like you know them. They are _my_ friends, not yours, nor will they ever be! I would never hurt them like you have! I would much rather they have to kill this body just so everyone would be safe, even if I go with it. As for the coward remark, you have no room to talk. If there was a personality problem to begin with, we could have somehow solved it rather than letting the Overmind get involved. I don't know how I got such evil and hatred into my system, but I'm certainly not going to help you succeed now with all you've done to me and my life. Now get lost! I'd rather be stuck here and alone rather than to help you ruin my life and those around me. Go please your master or something!" I shouted at him, giving quite the speech as well. His face turned from shock to sorrow.

"Fine, I'll be waiting when you change your mind!" he said quietly before his form vanished into thin air.

**-**

I wasn't truly sure that he was gone when he vanished, but I saw the viewing ball light up again shortly afterward, signaling that he was back in the real world. I sighed, I had wanted to get back to my life. But that meant to not only possibly sacrifice everything I believed in, but also who I was. If it was to be temporary I might have considered it, but I knew better. He wanted nothing more than to conquer or destroy everything in the universe, or maybe beyond that. I wanted nothing to do with that, nor did the idea of a fusion sound that appealing. It would merely combine our personalities together, and I would still have to deal with that sort of psychotic bloodlust that my other half seemed to enjoy. I wanted nothing to do with those murderous traits. The Zerg may have forced it upon me a few times, but no more, I was done with meaningless slaughters.

"Well now, congratulations, you have passed the test!" I heard behind me. I glanced back to see that the Cerebrate had woken up, though the way he spoke I'd say he had been awake the whole time.

"What test?" I asked.

"You know Verto, even when my master sent me here for you, even when I was infused with your memories, I wasn't really sure what sort of person you were. Pictures are worth a thousand words as they say, but they never really tell the story. As random as your personality seems to be at times, you understand the meaning behind the words right and wrong. I can truly see that now. Your desire to get your body back didn't affect your decision to stay here. You'd rather be stuck here or dead instead of helping your own dark side in getting what you both want to an extent. But I believe that deep down you understand that all he wanted was to break free of the Overmind and then continue on his own destructive path. Not many can see past a choice they have to make. I must say you did wonderfully. You didn't trust your own feelings over what was the correct thing to do. I must say that I am impressed with you, I can safely say that my trip has been a success!" he said with a smile.

"By what do you mean? I can't let that guy run wild, but I may be letting a bigger monster out again if I did fuse with him. I can't do that to those I love, I already made one mistake, but trying to correct it like that would be making a bigger one for the future! For all I know he could just use all of that negative energy you said he had to corrupt my side of things. I can't let that happen!" I explained.

"And that is absolutely right. I can tell that you were indeed the right person for the job!" he said.

"What job?" I asked.

He covered his mouth temporarily, "Oops, I slipped up again, it's a trait that I now have! What I meant is that you are truly the right person to control these powers that you now possess, only one committed to doing the right thing will be able to use them to their full extent! I guess the only thing left to do now is to get you back to your life on the physical plane!" he said with that big smile once again.

I shook my head a bit at what he said, "You mean this has been a test the entire time?! Are you saying that the other me wasn't real?" I shouted up at him.

"No, he was real, everything that has happened has been real. The best test of a person's character is to put them in with real situations, and everything that you've seen happen has happened. The other you is a separate soul, and I had to make sure things remained as such. I can tell that you will be a great person one day, maybe more than my master. Now then, you have to absorb my power just as we discussed before. The trick is to wait until he gets really angry before you do such a thing. Like I told you before, it may take a little while. But when he does, take all of my power and you will be able to overpower him and eject him from your body!" he explained.

"I thought you said you would vanish if I did, that means I have to basically kill you?" I asked.

"Yes technically, but some of my traits will pass to you. Not my memories though, they are a guarded secret that you will figure out someday. Trust me, I would not lie to you. Actually I can't!" he said, rubbing the back of his head ala Goku.

"I'm getting tired of these so called tests," I said.

"Yes I know, they should calm down pretty soon once I'm out of the picture," he said with a knowing smile. I thought that over, I really didn't want to do it, but it seemed that it was the right thing to do for the good of everyone else.

"To be honest, the thought of getting killed is scary to me as well, but if it wasn't for the good of the universe and all...well, things would get ugly if I didn't agree to it. But, it is up to you!" he said, somewhat encouraging.

I sighed, "Okay. I'll do it!"

**Next time on DBV: The battle between Gohan and infested Broly gets going and Gohan struggles against the infested legend. He finds that this Broly clone was not infested like Borgos was, and thus is just as tough as the original. He soon begins to lose power as Broly's resilience proves to be more than he can handle. Goku and Vegeta join the fight to stall Broly long enough for Gohan to power up further to finish the job, but will it be enough?**


	34. Stranded

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 33: Stranded**

Gohan and Broly clashed in high in the air with vicious punches and kicks. Almost dead even were their speed and strength, and it showed as every blow was blocked by either fighter. A half-hour had passed and neither fighter had thrown an energy blast yet, just a continued assault with brute strength. Goku and Vegeta watched extensively while the other Saiyans helped the Protoss leave the area. The Dark Templar had been evacuated first, except for Zeratul, he had insisted on staying until everyone was out. Bardock and Tora had flown out with the land transports to guard them against Zerg attacks. Fasha stood by and watched the long brawl going on outside, occasionally glancing around to make sure no Zerg were approaching. Though she would detect them without much trouble, it was hard to concentrate on anything other than the extremely powerful battle being waged. She found she had to stay as a Super Saiyan to even detect the movements of Gohan and Broly, and even then it wasn't enough. As she looked on, she didn't notice Zeratul coming up alone behind her.

"You have the look of one who has fought and won many battles, yet has lost something so important that you think as a bystander," his grim voice stated, stepping up to her left side.

She turned and examined his features slightly, "How did you know?"

"I've seen it many times from my own race, and they are much harder to read than a Terran," Zeratul chuckled slightly.

She frowned slightly, "Well I do feel like the bottom rung of a ladder here. I am the weakest Saiyan on this planet right now. Everyone else is so much stronger. I feel so useless!"

"Cheer up, it's not always the strongest mind or the strongest body that matters. Quite often it is the strongest heart that ends up being the most important tool in any warrior!" he explained.

She smiled softly, "Sounds like something my mate would say!"

"He must be a great man then. You're lucky!" Zeratul smiled, though it was hard to see it.

"Well he's not exactly a man yet, and were trying to find him. He's a great person yes, great power and skill, but he has been through so much stress and anguish that I don't know if he's the same anymore!" Fasha said, choking back a tear.

"Is he that gifted youngster fighting in the air there? I can certainly see what you're talking about," Zeratul said as he observed.

"No, that's Gohan, his best friend. No he was captured by the Zerg back on Earth and.." she started before Zeratul realized who it was.

"You mean that small boy is your mate? I was to understand that most Terrans couldn't mate before maturity. How strange," he could barely contain his own laughter at this.

Fasha looked steamed, "It was slightly different then and it was arranged!"

Zeratul put his hand up to calm her, "Yes I know what you mean, at my age you must laugh whenever you can just to keep going sometimes. I have engaged the boy twice, so I can understand what has happened to him. It's an ability of perception inherited by my people. He is quite skilled and powerful, and went through many of my brethren like a hurricane. I know of his power and his good heart. I also know the danger of the beast that was released within him, was he always as unpleasant as that?"

Fasha looked distressed, "No, he's a great and just warrior, but he was also a pacifist. He didn't like to fight others without a purpose. I can't say that many Saiyans are like that, including myself."

"It's alright, we will find him eventually. I promise that I will do everything I can to help him if possible," Zeratul said before stepping backward. Fasha turned back to respond but found nothing but air, and Zeratul was nowhere in sight.

-

_Ah man, this new version of Broly is even tougher than the old one_, Gohan thought as he continued his barrage of blows to the bigger infested Saiyan. He had managed to slip past Broly's defenses a number of times and pounded the big Saiyan like crazy. More than enough to at least break bones at this point. He had barely scratched him at all and he felt that he would begin to lose power soon if he didn't make any progress. Unlike Broly, who seemed to get stronger by the minute, he wasn't getting anywhere. Gohan knew he really wasn't getting any stronger, but it felt like he was a cat against a large mountain lion. The cat might do a little damage, but the lion would definitely win in a fight like this. When he saw another opening, he punched Broly as hard as he could in the face before backing off and charging a Masenko blast. He powered up the yellow blast with his reserve ki, knowing he may need the mixed energy for the finishing blow. He fired and watched as it collided with Broly.

After the explosion, Broly sat there with a fat grin on his face, smoking a little on his limbs, but otherwise unaffected. Gohan expected this and decided it was time to turn up the speed a little. He charged in and watched as Broly tried to grab his head. He got behind the big man as Broly grabbed at his after image before kicking the large Saiyan in the back. He followed up by gliding down and hitting a fierce uppercut to the chin, sending a large amount of saliva out of Broly's mouth. Gohan took the chance to connect on as many punches to the chest and stomach as possible before the big Saiyan knew what was going on. He dodged when Broly tried to grab at him again and let loose a big round of ki blasts, drawing on more of his reserve energy. This left Broly scowling when the smoke cleared, and Gohan still looking for an answer. _Great, no effect, guess I can't have them all easy to beat._

Gohan then stood upright and charged mixed energy balls in his hands. Broly just grinned at this and prepared to take them head on. Gohan smirked slightly himself and let them go, hitting right on and giving off a bright green explosion. _Hopefully they shredded him like they did Borgos._ The light cleared along with the dust and smoke. Gohan's face turned pale when Broly's grin remained.

"Were you expecting that weak attack to do something? Well, it might have wiped some sweat off, but I'm afraid it was just a waste of your energy!" Broly boasted. Gohan fell back to determination, before his hands lit up and he let loose with a furious assault of mixed energy blasts. Each one of them hit over about a thirty-second time period before he stopped to see what sort of damage they had done. Broly's Zerg cells had taken the impact and been broken up, but the Saiyan skin was beat red. He saw the large bruises and cuts beginning to heal themselves, but other than that it hadn't done much, Broly still looked un-fazed. Gohan flew back a little and drew his arms back.

"Alright big guy, let's see what you think of this one! Kamehame..." he chanted. Broly phased out and struck Gohan over the head with a double arm smash. Gohan was able to pull some of his energy back before losing the charge as he fell quickly to the ground. He caught himself a few feet short of the ground before powering up more and blasting into the sky. Broly gave chase and cut him off on the rebound with a nasty clothesline, about taking Gohan's head off. He grabbed his head with his huge hand and kneed the half Saiyan repeatedly in the face and chin. Blood trickled down from Gohan's forehead and around his nose before he got a taste of it. The taste of his own blood appeared to snap him out of it as Gohan managed to block the last knee, but couldn't block the other fist as it hit him hard in the face. Broly then spun and kicked Gohan in the side and abdominal region, sending him to the ground for sure this time. Gohan struggled to get up, spitting up blood and wiping some off that had gotten into his eyes. _Damn, I'm starting to lose power. I must still be a little tired from yesterday, I have to keep away from him for a chance at ending this, I need time._

Broly looked a little bored, "Done already boy, would your father like to play again then? Or how about your Protoss friends?"

Gohan stood up and shook a little, "You leave them out of this!"

"But they are already in this fight, you are merely the first helping to the main course! I guarantee no one is going to leave here alive!" Broly said, holding a strong ki blast in his hand, then over his head. It increased in size until it was as big as the Capsule Corp headquarters. Broly let it spin above him before turning and throwing it to his right. Gohan tracked the ki blast and its destination, quickly realizing that he wasn't aiming for him or anyone close by. It traveled much further than he expected, and much quicker. He sensed Broly was still controlling it a little, keeping it in the air longer. He had to reach out further to sense it at all, it had to be miles and miles away. Gohan was trying to think of anything that might be there, before he picked up on Bardock and Tora flying with the Protoss back to the ship. They were not moving, meaning they were already there and were the only thing around where that massive ki blast had gone.

"Oh crap!" he said before putting his two fingers to his head and teleporting out.

Broly chuckled slightly when he felt where Gohan reappeared, "It won't make a difference boy!" Vegeta and Goku were searching the skies and general area for Gohan before they realized he went back to the ship. They felt a large but far off explosion a few seconds later.

"Oh no, Gohan!" Goku shouted into the air. Gohan instantly appeared in front of him, along with Tora, Bardock and several hundred Protoss who all tumbled to the ground in surprise.

"That was close," he said as he turned back to Broly.

Tassadar was the closest one to Gohan, "What just happened?"

"I used the Instant Transmission technique to get you and the others off and away from the ship quickly," Gohan said as if it should have been obvious.

"But why…" Tassadar started to ask.

"Because he just blew it up!" Gohan stated calmly before rising into the air again.

-

"Blast it, how in the hell are we going to get off this rock now?" Vegeta barked at anyone who would answer.

"I don't know, but I think that is the least of our worries right now," Tassadar exclaimed as he watched Gohan engage Broly again, this time being on the losing end decisively.

"Damn, your brat isn't going to win on his own Kakarot! We're going to have to all attack at once like we did before, it'll give him the chance to finish him off!" Vegeta suggested.

"Why don't we fuse then Vegeta?" Goku asked plainly.

Vegeta scowled, "Not on your life, third class!"

"Oh well, it was worth a try!" Goku shrugged as he began to power up.

Back in the air, Broly was using Gohan as a punching bag, mostly to punish him for ruining his fun a few minutes before.

"I'm going to kill you and your friends no matter how many times you save them, it makes no difference now that you have no ship to get off of this planet! Give it up!" Broly ordered as he had Gohan by the scruff of his blue jumpsuit.

"No way!" Gohan said right away. Broly threw him a good distance before preparing a similar energy blast that he had just used to blow up the ship.

"Time to end this boy!" he declared.

"FINAL FLASH!" he heard behind him. A large yellow beam smashed into Broly from a certain Saiyan prince who stood in his Super Saiyan two form. Broly seemed mostly unaffected by the attack, but he felt it for sure as his attack lost its power. Goku, also at level two, knelt down to his son, who was breathing hard and bleeding from the forehead.

"You okay Gohan?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so. I think I still have enough energy to beat him, but I'm sore and tired, I need time to power it up!" he said, getting up to a sitting position.

"Yeah, I know, just remember not to doubt yourself. Vegeta and I will hold him off till your ready!" Goku said as he rose and started stepping towards Broly.

"Okay dad, be careful, he hits a lot harder than it seems!" Gohan joked as he began to summon his deep power. Broly was giving Vegeta quite the cocky look, who returned a scowl.

"You really should not have done that, fallen prince! You apparently forget what happened last time you tried something like that!" Broly threatened.

Vegeta grunted at this, "Ha, and you forget what happened to you. You are not invincible, you can be beaten! Whether it's by Kakarot, his brat or me, you are going down!" Vegeta declared as he powered up further to Super Saiyan three.

Broly kept his grin, "Go ahead, show me how you're going to do it!" Vegeta charged in and unleashed a furious assault of punches and kicks while Broly dodged and evaded all of them. Vegeta didn't give up and caught Broly in the chin on a spin kick while avoiding one of the big man's punches. He saw a very familiar grin when his kick made contact, and jumped back before Broly could club him again. He fired many ki blasts at the big Saiyan, who just flew forward through it all until he was in Vegeta's face. He punched Vegeta in the gut once and it doubled the prince over in extreme pain. He repeated this a few times before holding Vegeta up by his long hair so he could talk directly to his face.

"And to think you were almost as strong as I was not too long ago against Majin Buu, just goes to show that you can never compete with me in strength!" Broly stated before laughing like crazy. He prepared a large ki blast in his free hand, ready to turn Vegeta to ash.

"Time to send you to hell, prince!" A small but potent ki blast hit him in the back of the head, enough for him to turn his head to the source. A mighty war cry came in along with Goku's boot to his upper chest, a powerful enough kick to release Vegeta and make Broly fly backward a bit. Before Goku and Vegeta could react though, he came right back, plowing over both Saiyans with his big forearms and grabbing a hold of them. He flew towards the large cliff and threw them both into the side of the plateau. He charged in and punched them both in the stomach hard, causing two very loud screams of pain as he did it over and over again.

**-**

Gohan struggled with his energy as he was charging as much mixed energy as possible, but trying not to unleash too much ki into it. He knew that he couldn't get the maximum power out of his body if he allowed that to happen. In turn, his hair flashed back to black a few times, but he managed to keep his Super Mystic form. Tassadar had made his way over to him along with Tora, Bardock and Artanis.

"Gohan, what's the problem? Can't you just blow this guy away?" Tora asked.

"No, my powers are too complicated! I'm not balanced enough to crank out the power I need to beat him! I need more Psi and I just don't have it!" he explained.

"Then just use your extra ki power, I can sense you still have plenty of that!" Bardock suggested.

"I want to use all of it, but it won't generate what I need Grandpa! This power is hard to use for a reason I think. If only we had a Senzu bean or something!" Gohan said in doubt.

Tassadar and Artanis looked indifferent, "Is there anyway we can assist you then?" Tassadar asked.

Gohan looked at them, shocked, but then very excited, "Oh of course, you guys have tons of Psi energy running through you! Could you give some of it to me, so I can beat him!"

"Yes, of course, but how exactly," Artanis asked, looking at his three-fingered hands.

"Just focus it out of you and towards me, but do it gently. It's like that Psi storm thing you guys do, just a lot lighter!" Gohan explained.

Tassadar seemed to understand, "Yes, it is similar to that Praetor. Gohan we will begin when you are ready!"

"Go for it!" Light blue energy emerged in the air from the hands of the two Templar and went directly to Gohan, whose silver aura began to emit smoky waves of green around him.

**-**

"Is that all the two of you have?" Broly asked as Goku and Vegeta struggled to get out of the mountain.

"Any ideas Vegeta?" Goku asked.

"Why are you asking me imbecile? You're the great hero!" Vegeta snapped back.

"Heh, oh yeah. We still need to keep his attention away from Gohan, but I can barely move, we're both still tired from yesterday!" Goku pointed out.

"Argh, that brat of yours better hurry up!" Vegeta barked as they both powered up for another go. Broly was waiting patiently once he saw the large golden auras go back up. Both Super Saiyan Threes hit Broly, who was unable to block them both with the speed that they came in at. They both hit him hard in the stomach area, knocking him backwards for a good ways. Goku and Vegeta then powered up more side-by-side before drawing back in a similar pose, mirroring each other. In between them formed a large golden ki ball. Both Saiyans dropped down to level two by emitting so much energy, their hair shortening. Broly regained his composure and charged back in quickly, mad as a hornet.

"Final Kamehame, HAAA!!!" Goku and Vegeta both shouted, releasing the blast together. The golden beam roared towards Broly, who stopped and fired his own ki beam to oppose it. The beams collided, pushing against one another ferociously. Broly struggled a bit, but then grinned more and sent more power down his side of the battle. This pushed Goku and Vegeta's beam backwards until it was gone and the two Saiyans were hit hard by the return fire. They both flew into the mountain, dropping out of Super Saiyan completely as they hit the ground.

"There's two nuisances down, now for the boy!" Broly said as he turned to see Gohan's form. Gohan was still receiving Psi energy from Tassadar and Artanis, not ready for any attack at the moment. Bardock and Tora realized this quickly and jumped out ahead of him, powering up to level two.

"Oh, aren't you two entertaining!" Broly said with disgust.

"Tora, let's try the fusion," Bardock whispered to his closest friend.

"Yeah let's do it!" Tora said back, jumping to about eight feet away. As they regulated their power levels, they began the dance.

"Fu…sion…" Broly saw this and grinned sharply as he fired a single ki blast with his finger. The blast hit Tora right as they came back around to finish the dance, knocking him off position with his fingers. A bright flash followed, leaving behind a large and overweight Saiyan with hair like Gotenks, only all gold.

"Oh, shit," Fat Tardock said. Broly sent out an invisible wave of ki that smashed into the fused invalid and sent him into the crowd of Protoss. Some of them got out of the way, the rest were bowled over like pins before hitting the mountain. The only good thing about this was that the fused fat Saiyan then defused once he bounced off the rock, both fighters out cold.

"Now where were we?" Broly asked as he kept his smirk and turned back to Gohan, who was still charging. Suddenly a cold feeling overcame him and he seemed to freeze in place. Ice formed around his legs and crept upwards until a blue shield of it surrounded him and seemed to harden and crystallize. Zeratul then shimmered into view a few feet ahead of him, his arm outstretched. He activated his sword and prepared to strike. The ice began to melt and was then blown right off as Broly powered out of it. Zeratul was blown back a bit by the sudden power up, but ran forward with his sword. Broly chuckled at this and fired a small ki blast at him. Zeratul then vanished as the blast arrived, hitting nothing. Broly's grin dropped when he realized he didn't see where he went. His blank eyes searched side to side and all around, not catching a trace of the Dark Templar. A large and smoldering cut then slashed its way across his large back. He grabbed it by instinct before spinning around to obliterate whoever did that to him. He found nothing again as an invisible sword struck his legs and shoulders next, again from behind. He jumped back, snarling as the wounds healed themselves.

"Come out Protoss, show yourself you coward!" Broly shouted at the air. Zeratul reappeared a bit away from where Broly was, to his left.

"Ah there you are, now stay still so I can kill you!" Broly suggested.

"Such a vile creature can only be a creation of the Overmind itself, you will be destroyed by my hand!" Zeratul declared.

"Good luck!" Broly said, stomping closer. Zeratul sighed and stood ready, green sword shimmering. Broly fired off several ki blast rounds, watching the elder warrior dodge and parry them easily with the sword. Broly fired another big ki blast, seeing Zeratul zip away as swiftly as any Saiyan. Broly turned to see the Dark Templar standing further away, not even singed by the last attack, or even winded.

"You better stay still old one. Your people are right behind you!" Broly pointed out. Zeratul glanced back to see that he was right, he also took note that Gohan was now charging all of his power into his next attack. Tassadar and Artanis looked tired, but had begun to get away from him. Zeratul looked back at Broly, spreading his arms out wide, bringing them together in front of him. He charged a small white ball of Psi energy, getting ready to direct it at the large Saiyan.

"Yeah right Protoss, that would be the day. But to humor you, take your best shot!" Broly laughed loudly.

Zeratul did just that, "Feedback!" The white blast struck Broly square in the chest and faded. Broly looked at this and laughed louder than he thought he could laugh.

"What was that? A normal human could have taken that! That was absolutely pathetic! My master was afraid of you? Muhahahaha!" Broly shouted loudly.

"Call it weak if you want, but you won't destroy any planets today!" Zeratul said, keeping calm. Broly rose into the air, ready to prove him wrong.

"I beg to differ, you're all going to Hell now!" he shouted, calling on his power. When his aura appeared, white lightning streaked around all over his body and he fell to the ground in a heap, getting shocked over and over again as if Mother Nature had it in for him. Only difference being that the lightning came from within. Goku and Vegeta stared at this with wide eyes, as did most everyone around. Broly struggled to get up and activated more of his ki, getting the same result.

"Incredible, the old Protoss downed him with one blast!" Vegeta pointed out.

"I don't think that was a normal blast Vegeta, I couldn't sense it!" Goku said.

Zeratul glanced over at them and grinned a bit, "Correct, it wasn't what your kind would consider normal, but it does well against all those who represent darkness!"

Broly struggled more, getting shocked more and more, "Not me!" He powered up as much as possible, shaking the ground and causing his body to glow white because of the feedback influence. He then managed to stand up slowly and push outwards with all of his power. The white lightning glow then snapped off like broken glass and normal ki flowed within him. Zeratul was at a loss of words himself, never mind anyone nearby with a pulse.

"It seems your little trick doesn't work so well against a superior power like my own!" Broly declared, using his energy to push Zeratul backwards. He got punched in the sides by Goku and Vegeta, but shook them off and sent them back into the ground easily.

"Broly!!!" he heard his name shouted. He turned to see Gohan drawn back in his stance, his aura flowing greatly and his finishing blast spinning behind him. Broly could see that Gohan was struggling slightly with this blast, it had all of his energy behind it.

"This is it Broly, you're going down! Ka...me...ha...MEH!" Gohan began. Broly grinned and fired several ki blast rounds at Gohan, trying to disrupt him.

As those flew at the Mystic Saiyan, Goku sat up and shouted towards his son, "Use it Gohan!" Gohan shifted a bit before drawing back a bit more and staring right at Broly. The large ki blasts rained in and exploded right where he was. Broly began to laugh crazily again until he heard a distinct whoosh of air right next to him, causing his grin to vanish.

"HAAAAAA!!!!!!!" Gohan's green beam smashed into Broly and pushed him into the air with it, before rushing over and through every part of his body while he screamed. His body faded into the light as it zoomed through the ash clouds of Char and into space.

**Power levels:**

**Infested Broly: 730,000,000**

**Super Mystic Gohan: 700,000,000(drops to 650,000,000); Super Warp Kamehameha: 750,000,000**

**Goku (tired): SS2: 430,000,000; SS3: 545,000,000**

**Vegeta (tired): SS2: 410,000,000; SS3: 520,000,000**

**Bardock (SS2): 440,000,000**

**Tora (SS2): 430,000,000**

**Fat Tardock: 200,000,000**

**A/N: Well Broly's been toasted by Gohan, but it took a lot to do it. What's next for our heroes, and have they seen the last of Broly? **

**Next time on DBV: The Saiyans recover from their battle with Broly and receive word from Kerrigan that he will be back in three days time with a substantial amount of Zerg forces. Elsewhere, Evil Verto's mind begins to break down, and he sees visions of enemies in everything he sees. He then goes berserk and begins to kill everything around him in a fit of rage. Next time.**


	35. Plan for Retrieval

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 34: Plan for Retrieval**

Gohan panted very hard as he fell to one knee, dropping out of Super Mystic the instant his beam was out. He scanned all around for any trace of Broly, catching what might have been a finger or toe that had been missed. But no energy even came from it, and no sign of regeneration followed. This told him what he needed to know, that Broly was mostly Saiyan and not Zerg, unlike what Borgos had been. He mentally slapped himself when he remembered that he had used the mixed energy beam, it probably would not have mattered. Not to mention that, the low power moves before didn't do anything. He shook his head slightly, concerned that one or two of Broly's clubbing blows may have done more than hurt him. Goku and Vegeta struggled to get up, but managed to stagger over to Gohan.

"He's gone. We did it," Goku said.

"Perhaps, but if the Overmind can clone people just with a sample of blood, I imagine that he may do it again. We nearly lost that one," Vegeta pointed out, getting grim expressions in return. Zeratul then strode over to the trio along with some of the other Protoss warriors, Tassadar and Artanis included.

"Fantastic attack, we may win this war yet!" Artanis celebrated slightly.

"Don't get too excited young Templar, that evil being may still be revived by the Overmind. I doubt we have seen the last of him!" Zeratul warned.

Gohan looked confused, "I thought that if I used a concentrated mixed power beam, that they couldn't come back!"

"Technically that one won't come back. If he was indeed cloned from an original blood source, then I doubt the Overmind will have much trouble making a new clone. Probably a stronger one to correct the mistakes of the first one," Zeratul explained.

"I thought you guys killed one of his Cerebrates and it couldn't come back?" Goku asked.

"That is correct, but it depends on the being. If the being was originally Zerg, then no he cannot bring it back once destroyed by that kind of power. Any other being could feasibly be cloned as long as he has the materials and resources. A killing machine like that one would no doubt still have blue prints lying around somewhere, am I not mistaken?" Zeratul asked, though most everyone understood it.

"What shall we do then?" Artanis asked.

"First we need to rest and recover, we can't fight another battle like that any time soon. The boy is too depleted," Vegeta suggested.

"Our mountain base is being repaired and reinforced as we speak, we have plenty of nutrients and recovery chambers should you need them," Artanis offered.

"Nutrients?" Goku asked.

"He means food dad," Gohan said. A gust of wind followed as Goku has made a mad dash to the cave entrance, startling many Protoss in the process.

"Idiot," Vegeta grumbled.

"Prelate Zeratul, may I ask a favor from you," Tassadar asked as Gohan and Vegeta started towards the mountain with Artanis.

"What is that Executor?" the elder Protoss asked.

"Teach me your Dark Templar ways," he said with a bow, "I have heard what learning their ways has done to Judicator Aldaris, though he was already corrupt. I wish to do it the right way."

Zeratul smiled, or so it seemed, "Yes. I may have the need for an apprentice," he said, putting his arm around Tassadar's shoulder as they walked off to the cave.

**Interlude 34.1: Kerrigan**

Kerrigan and Zerg-Verto were at the bottom of her Hive cluster, in discussion with the Overmind and Daggoth. Other Cerebrates were in the telepathic conversation as well, but those four were the only ones speaking. Zerg-Verto couldn't help but chuckle a little bit when the news of Broly hit. Kerrigan promptly slapped his side a bit to shut him up while the Overmind was going on and on about it.

"_We must make these enemies realize that we will not be stopped, we must strike at their weakest possible moment with all of our strength! Kerrigan and Daggoth will begin to spawn as many troops as possible from their broods. The other broods will assist by supplying resources. I myself must retreat to hibernation, as I will revive Broly. Despite his failure, he is a great asset and nearly defeated the Saiyans without any assistance. We will wear them down by attrition and then strike with unrivaled fury! Your broods have three days to create your forces, that is my estimated time to finish reviving Broly to his full power once again. The Saiyans may recover by then, but it doesn't matter as they were at nearly full strength at the time of battle. Go now, and bring swift death to the enemies of the Swarm!"_ Once the connection was cut, Kerrigan seemed bogged down with deep thinking. She gave general orders to her minions to start gathering more resources, but left it at that.

Verto seemed confused, "I'm surprised he didn't come running to me for more help," he snorted slightly.

"That is because your powers haven't recovered yet, and you will not be effective in your battles. The emotional ties with the girl would disrupt you. You should go back to your recovery chamber and sleep some more, that is the only way your energy will build back up quickly. Go, now!" she barked. Verto gave her a small grunt and walked off, thinking out loud about how he was going to kill her someday. Kerrigan watched as he left and kept a telepathic scan going through out her entire Hive cluster, especially on him. His link to the Overmind kept pinging off loudly and kept its intensity. She always knew whenever the Overmind kept an eye on her and kept her personality straight with her dealings with the young Saiyan. But now she was certain that the Overmind had a direct connection going with Verto, and was not closing it. The evil half didn't seem to notice this at all. She redirected her scans towards the Overmind itself, who could not detect this. She felt him going back to sleep like he said he would. He was definitely going to revive Broly. But it also seemed that he was going to stay connected to Verto, as if to make sure nothing went wrong. She tensed up slightly, that meant he might be able to control his body. She doubted he could do it directly without spending a hell of a lot of energy, but he could plant suggestions in Zerg-Verto's mind, or make him see things that are interpreted differently. _This isn't going as well as I'd hoped, but this is as good a chance as any for them to come. _She sighed as she then turned to her right in a sitting position, calling out with her mind to those she did not trust.

-

Tassadar, Zeratul and the Saiyanswere in a conference room at the back of the underground base, talking about general things. Zeratul and the other Protoss were as unfamiliar to the Saiyans as they were to him. Most of their discussion covered habits of either race, but slowly churned into their plans to handle the situation. This led to Artanis and Zeratul discovering the wonders of the Saiyan appetite. Afterwards they were shown to a recovery room where the beds were lined with small blue colored devices that could be connected like an IV. Zeratul explained that the Protoss used these to recover after a harsh battle, stating that the fluid in them would accelerate the recovery time of the person it was attached to, no matter what race. Depending on the extent of the injuries, this fluid would keep them asleep for a little longer than usual, but without a healer or Senzu beans around, it was as good as anything. This also led to Zeratul finding out about Goku's fear of needles. Then they went back to the conference room to discuss their plans.

"After we've recovered, we should go search for Verto, preferably before Broly is revived. How long does that take anyway?" Gohan asked.

"I would imagine a great deal of time for a Saiyan like Broly, at least to get full power out of him again. Any idea, Tassadar?" Vegeta asked.

"Permanent use of other beings is still relatively new to the Overmind, Kerrigan was one of the first ones. Others were just used for spies and such. Your friend Borgos appeared about two days after his death correct?" Tassadar asked, getting scowls in return for bringing it up.

"Correct," Bardock said quickly.

"But he was infested differently than Broly and Verto. Wouldn't that make a difference?" Gohan asked.

"Good point, either way we should be prepared for the possibility of facing him again. I doubt the Overmind will let that kind of power go to waste!" Vegeta suggested. As if all of them were on a similar brainwave, everyone heard a telepathic voice in their minds.

"_Tassadar, are you there?"_ He looked around right away, but so was everyone else.

"Who was that?" Gohan asked.

"_It's Kerrigan, Gohan. I'm contacting your group from my primary Hive cluster! Tassadar or Artanis should be able to pinpoint where that is!"_ At once Krator and Artanis pulled up a holomap of the planet, finding the largest concentration of purple colored Zerg brood and highlighting it.

"_Good, that is where you will find Verto. I suggest you come in force!"_ she suggested.

"Hold on vile creature, you don't dictate orders here! Your master would just love for us to fall into your trap wouldn't he?" Tassadar growled, getting a slight warning glance from Zeratul in the process.

Kerrigan had expected it though, "_Your little troop has already figured it out though, and this is the time window that you have to work with. The Overmind has entered hibernation to revive Broly to his full power. He is now inactive!"_

"Not likely, the heart of the swarm doesn't just sit back and take a restful break to restore one being to life!" Zeratul argued.

"_Ah Zeratul, I thought you Dark Templar were a little wiser than normal Protoss, seems I was right. I think he may also be trying to warp Verto's mind even more than it already is. When he went to sleep, I sensed his link to Verto became more active. I don't think he can control him, but he will be able to plant suggestions in his mind or increase the amount of bloodlust he experiences. His link to Verto is through the dark spirit controlling him. The Verto you all know has to break out sometime soon otherwise he will be stuck inside of his mind forever. However if his friends are introduced into the puzzle, I think that he may be able to do it, but his dark side isn't going to go away willingly as you all know. You have three days before Broly is revived, I suggest you take it. I will move the bulk of my forces out of your direct path, so expect little resistance. If you don't hurry, Verto may be gone forever, and you can expect a much harder battle with Broly next time. He will have a large Zerg force comparable to the army we used on Earth. You had better hurry!"_ With all of that stated, the connection was cut, leaving the Protoss and Saiyans alone again, wondering how she managed to contact all of them in the first place.

"So she can talk to a big group like King Kai can. Cool," Goku said.

"You don't actually plan on going do you, surely you can see it is a trap!" Artanis warned.

"We have to go," Gohan said, rising from his chair.

"They are just luring you there to pick you all off while your powers are exhausted!" Artanis continued.

"If we wait, then what she said about Broly and another large Zerg force will be true anyway! I say we go as soon as possible," Bardock said, tightening his glove. Goku and Vegeta agreed with this, leaving the Protoss in doubt.

"I'm still unsure about this, it could still be a masterful trap set by the Overmind that forces us to walk into it," Tassadar said in thought.

"True young Templar, however this may be the best decision to make. Our forces cannot stand up to a large enough Zerg force if that overpowered creature comes along. You and Krator shall accompany the Saiyans in two days time, that should be sufficient time to recover from this battle. We take a risk either way, but this way seems the most logical choice right now," Zeratul suggested, getting a sharp acknowledgement from Tassadar.

"You guys got any more food? I think we ate through your supply?" Goku asked, stretching a little.

"One should not consume too much food, it slows the body down and can disrupt it greatly," Zeratul wisely stated.

"One should not deny Kakarot food when he's hungry, we will all go mad listening to him whine," Vegeta chuckled, getting a similar reaction out of everyone.

**Interlude 34.2: Raynor**

"Trooper, let me know when you can get that transmitter fixed. I need to get in touch with Praetor Artanis of the Protoss as soon as possible. With all those seismic explosions we detected yesterday, we need to know if they are still alive!" Raynor ordered the soldier.

"Roger that Cap'n, but without replacement parts it may take up to a week to weld this sucker back to operating status. I reckon I'll be spendin' another day fixin' all of the circuits and wiring them all back together," the soldier said while working on the base of the antenna.

"That's fine, just inform me when you can!" Raynor ordered before climbing down the ladder and entering the ship. He checked with the engineers to see how long it would take for the engines to be ready to go, being told that it would only be about four days before they were ready to try it. The anti-gravity pads to lift the ship were already functional again, so it was at least sitting up right on its landing stilts again, that made everyone's job easier. He found out that his weapon systems were ready to go as well, and he knew they would need them. Most of the soldiers were now in the mess hall, where the replicators had just been fixed and everyone was enjoying a semi-decent meal from it. Raynor took a seat across from Sergeant Kline, who didn't look well.

"Something wrong Kline? You look ready to lose your lunch!" Raynor joked slightly. Kline glanced up with a murderous look but kept silent. Raynor glared back as the mess hall quieted down during the stare-off. Kline suddenly jumped up and ran to the nearest toilet, indeed sick. This resulted in a heavy round of laughter, most saying that he couldn't hold his liquor down too well. In that very bathroom, Kline stared at himself in the mirror after cleaning himself off.

"What the hell is wrong with me? This is a bad time to get Antigan flu, but it can't be that! I've had my shots," he told himself. He watched the mirror some more when he saw a small sore on the back of his neck. He recalled swatting at a small bug there the previous day because it had bitten him much like a mosquito would. _Great, must have given me some weird virus from this world, just fucking great!_ He thought to himself. He suddenly went rigid as his skin suddenly turned green on his face, and he felt his stomach wanting to empty itself. He collapsed to the ground in deep pain, screaming and groaning for all he was worth as his insides felt like they were going to explode. This attracted some attention from the soldiers in the nearby bunkrooms.

"Sergeant Kline, you okay in there Sarge?" one of them asked with a very country like tone of voice. The screaming suddenly stopped, and Kline then opened the door with a slight grin on his face, not showing any pain at all.

"Yeah, you know I can't handle my drinks that well!" he claimed with an evil twinkle in his eye.

-

Gohan woke sleepily from his bed, carefully removing the IV like device from his arm. As he got up and stretched a little, he realized he felt fantastic.

"Wow, that thing really did the trick, my power is back up to full," he said to himself. He checked the time with the translation that Tassadar had shown him, seeing that it was about thirty-four hours since he went to bed. He wasn't surprised, Zeratul had told them that the fluid may cause them to sleep for a long time, but that the longer they slept, the better it would work. Getting Goku to settle down for it took some time though, as one would imagine. Speaking of his father, he noticed that his bed was empty. A dripping hose from the healing devices lay nearby, his father hadn't exactly been careful while removing it. Gohan made his way to the dining area they had been using, finding only Fasha there.

"Oh hi, your father and the others are up in the command room," she said in between bites of food.

"That's okay, I was hungry anyway. Sleep well?" he asked.

"Well I wasn't really tired like you guys were, physically anyway," she dragged on with a full mouth.

"Thinking about Verto eh? Don't worry, we'll get him back one way or another!" Gohan said with a cheerful look.

"I hope you're right, sorry I went off on you the other day," she mumbled.

"I expected it, don't worry I won't hold it against you. I'm more concerned with how Verto is doing right now, we don't even know what his condition is. Hopefully Kerrigan cleared out most of those Zerg so we don't attract too much attention," Gohan said.

"Yeah, well...I wish you guys all the luck!" Fasha said, getting up.

"You're not going with?" Gohan asked as she made her way to the door.

"Prince Vegeta ordered me not to, he said I would just get in the way!" she said softly.

"Hold on, you should be coming along with us. The evil part of Verto reacted to you a lot, I think you should be there to help. If anything it seemed to subdue him a bit last time. Maybe his better half will break free if you come. Tell you what, I'll vouch for ya, Vegeta can't say no to me!" Gohan said with a grin.

She looked greatly relieved to say the least, "You mean it, and he'll listen to you?"

"Oh yeah, there's absolutely no way he can say no to me!" Gohan boasted.

**-**

"Absolutely no way in hell she is going with us!" Vegeta barked at both of them when Fasha stepped into the conference room. Gohan was doing his best to persuade Vegeta with the reasoning behind it, but the prince didn't want any part of it.

"She can only get in the way and will probably be injured in the process! Then the boy will probably go psychotic!" he snapped at them both.

"Ah, come on Vegeta, she seems to be the only one who can affect Verto emotionally. I really think this will work!" Gohan pleaded his case. The door slid open as Goku walked through with Tora.

"Hey everyone, Tassadar and Krator said that the Zerg swarms have broken in our flight path. We should try and go now. Hey Fasha you need to go to!" Goku waved as he left the room. Fasha and Vegeta's jaws both dropped open. _So much for the soldiers following royalty, but the brat might actually be right about this. Still, I don't think it's a good idea, the boy may be too unstable_, Vegeta grumbled in his own thoughts as he and the others left.

**Interlude 34.3: Zerg-Verto**

Zerg-Verto remained in the recovery chamber as Kerrigan directed. The green fluid was very soothing to all of his wounds, as his Zerg cells still hadn't come back yet. He wondered why a bit as he sat in there, but he guessed it was because of his disobedience to the Overmind. He chuckled slightly at the thought of the Overmind hiding behind his cheap connections to his body and such, a coward's way. His tail twitched a bit while he sat silently, dozing off. He wasn't sure how long he slept until he suddenly woke up. It wasn't for any reason as he pulled himself out of the chamber, no one had entered. He felt his power had for the most part returned, maybe a little low due to no food, but good enough. He felt great, in fact he felt very energized. He thought that perhaps he should go outside and train a little bit. The door to his chamber opened for him as he stood up to it to leave. He walked slowly through the hallways of the Hive cluster. He spotted a Zergling running by him. He barely registered it was a Zergling before something strange happened. He turned back and looked at it, something about it was different. The Zergling stared at him and hissed slightly. He glared at it and charged a ki blast to get his point across not to mess with him. Suddenly the Zergling stood up on its hind legs like a bear would, hissing and snarling. Verto watched it carefully before seeing its shape start to change before his very eyes. It's skin turned into a pale green and slightly light tan color and its mass increased greatly. A tail sprouted as its face became more humanoid. It stood up more, showing the shape of an overly large Saiyan with golden hair.

Verto dropped back and growled, "Broly! What do you want?" Broly didn't answer, only started to power up. Verto stood ready to power up, but something then clicked on in his mind. He suddenly felt bloodthirsty, he wanted to kill something. This wasn't a new feeling, but it felt like it was multiplied in intensity by ten times. A massive headache came to his head, and it only increased the urge to kill whatever was in front of him. Verto released the ki blast he was holding with a shout of rage. The ki blast hit and Broly dropped to the ground. Verto stared at the body, closing his eyes and shaking the sudden cobwebs from his head. When he looked again, he saw the Zergling's regular shape, only with its head blown off. _What the hell, am I seeing things now?_ The sudden urge to kill something returned when he passed another Zergling. He saw the Overmind's eye this time, hovering and laughing in his face. Another Zergling was turned into ash as he walked by, trying to keep control of himself.

**Next time on DBV: Zerg-Verto begins to tear the hive cluster apart in a wild fit, seeing enemies in the form of other Zerg. Good Verto and the Cerebrate look on from within, and they sense Gohan and the others approaching. The Cerebrate's words inspire Verto to do what is right to save his friends from a potential dangerous situation, and he absorbs the Cerebrate's spirit and energy. Next time on DBV!**


	36. Cerebrate's Farewell

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 35: Cerebrate's Farewell **

Zerg-Verto continued up through the Hive, blowing away Zerglings and Drones that he spotted. All of them took the shape of Broly, the Overmind's Eye, Aldaris and any other enemy to him. The ki blasts and beams began to get larger depending on the distance from him that the Zerg were. The Zerg started to run from the mad Saiyan, odd for creatures that are supposedly without fear. The hive walls soon bled and crumbled a bit wherever he struck them. Between shouts and screams of anguish, he was holding his head like the migraine from hell was affecting him. Down below, Kerrigan snapped awake from general meditation. She had sensed the Saiyans coming and had really worked to clear them a not so obvious path so no one else caught on. But now she sensed Verto's pain and what he was doing to try to get rid of it. She rushed out of her lower chamber and up the ramps of the Hive's central column as quickly as she could. Meanwhile every Zerg that approached became dust the instant he saw them. Kerrigan got to the ground level of the Hive shortly after Verto had blasted many holes in the floor. She sensed her Hive cluster start to lose some of its structure and really start to bleed. If it collapsed they were only in for trouble, as most Zerg in the area would run out of control almost immediately while the Overmind was still asleep. She frowned slightly at that thought; she knew the Overmind was doing this. Everyone has his or her breaking point, and if Verto's mind had been warped too much already, then he may go out of control himself. She scanned his thoughts, seeing what was wrong. His aggressive hormones had been put into overdrive and his brain was not deciphering friend from foe. True, he really didn't have any friends here, but he wasn't thinking logically either. He hadn't powered up yet, but if he did then she suspected he would go into an auto-kill mode the way he was seeing things. She spotted him blowing holes in the much higher ceiling and ran up to him.

"Verto, you have to calm down, you're just seeing things! Calm down or you're going to go mad! Whatever you do, don't power up!" she begged and pleaded, her two hands pushing against his stronger arms.

"Argh, get back! These fiends need to be sent back to hell!" he shouted, pushing her aside to blow another Broly-Zergling away. A lone Hydralisk came into the central room to see what the trouble was about. When Verto saw it, his eyes and breath changed considerably, into an even more murderous stage. Kerrigan stepped back when his Psi sword was formed and he flew at the Hydra.

"Die Frieza!!" he shouted, slicing the Hydra in half and then into eighths. Another Hydra came in and Verto actually stood still now, but that killer look never left as he was breathing a little harder.

"Cell! I'm gonna tear you apart! Arghhhh!!!" he shouted as his silver aura kicked on. Kerrigan ran towards him now along with a few dozen Zerglings that sensed their Hive in trouble. She was blown back when he hit his Super Mystic level. She instantly felt lucky though, the Zerglings nearby had exploded once his mixed energy hit them. He took his now green sword and chucked it sideways at the Hydra, taking its head clean off. More Zerg arrived, not sure what to do with their enraged comrade. Verto stared at them with a glare but deadly calm look, raising his finger to them.

**Interlude 35.1: Good Verto**

"Man, what got into him?" I asked, staring at the viewing ball with my arms crossed. Cerebrate was at a loss for words as well as my evil self started to tear through Zerg like Goku does food.

"I'm not sure, he's enraged but I don't know about what, let me scan his thoughts," he said, closing his eyes. I glanced up at him, waiting for an answer.

"There is something wrong here, I'm detecting high levels of aggression running through him. His instincts that regard to fighting and rage have skyrocketed. He's a running motor right now, and his targets seem to be whatever he sees. Wait a second, his brain isn't working right either!" he explained somewhat vaguely.

"Yeah, I noticed that from day one," I cracked.

"No, that's not what I mean, he's seeing things that aren't correct. Put your hand on the force field and you'll hear what he's saying!"

I did so, hearing shouts like: "Die, Frieza!" and "Go to Hell, Broly!" among others. I took my hand off, getting the point.

"He's seeing the forms of enemies instead of seeing the Zerg. This is very bad. In his psychotic state he may just destroy the planet by pure accident, that wouldn't be good!"

"Yeah, no kidding, " I said, stepping back a bit from the force field.

"Do you sense that in the air? I think your friends are coming!" Cerebrate said.

"Oh great, while he's like that he's liable to shoot at them too. I have to try to stop him now, but how? He isn't really mad enough and he isn't taking your power?!" I asked in slight desperation.

Cerebrate looked down slightly, "That's true, this harder containment field will remain up because of that, but you have to find a way. You can do it!"

"Yeah, but, it'll kill you!" I said in hesitation.

"True, but I'll still always be here, it's like the music you listen to. It's always in your memory. I've always wanted to help those in need and this is the only way. Allow me to show you what I mean!" he said, clearing his throat. Suddenly I heard loud rock music blaring around me, only there were no speakers.

"I wish he had been able to do this earlier, I wouldn't have been as bored," I muttered as his words began.

_I always wanted to be president._

_I always wanted to be Superman.  
I ended up a fuckin superstar.  
I'm better off than either one of them._

_I wanna take you to a higher place.  
Say all the things that you could never say.  
I'll even help you try to make a change.  
Before the whole world blows up in your face._

_Come inside for a moment.  
Come inside for a moment._

_I'm the voice inside of you, that says there's nothing you can't do.  
If you could open up your eyes and lay your heart out on the line.  
I'm the voice inside your head, that brings your mind back from the dead.  
I hope that I have served you right, even if only for one night._

I found that I recognized the song, and the words behind it were inspiring.

"Okay I'll do it, but how?" I asked as the music volume suddenly went down a little.

"Believe in yourself Verto, you have the power and ability to do what needs to be done!" he said, still humming along to the tune. I struggled to think about what to do about this hard force field as his words repeated themselves.

_I'm the voice inside of you, that says there's nothing you can't do.  
If you could open up your eyes and lay your heart out on the line.  
I'm the voice inside your head, that brings your mind back from the dead.  
I hope that I have served you right, even if only for one night._

I tried a ki blast and watched it do nothing at all. I punched the hard surface next, getting nothing again.

"Come on Verto, you can do it!" he said again. I considered charging a big beam to smash it with next when something occurred to me. This force field was made of Psi. I gathered the same energy into my palm and extended it. My Psi Sword formed at will and I took a step back before swinging it into the force field. My sword went right through it, cutting a solid blue line from about five feet up to the ground. I punched through again, finding that there was nothing solid in the middle of it, only above where the Cerebrate's body floated. I cut a big enough hole for me to crawl through, noting that the force field cut as easily as paper with my sword's touch.

_Come inside for a moment.  
Come inside for a moment._

I did just that, crawling through and looking up at the Cerebrate, who was now glowing bright blue. He was still humming the tune of the music that was inspiring me to press on, I could even see his head bouncing back and forth to the beat of the drums. _Tch, like me to the end I suppose. _I rose into the air and floated at the same level as him. I watched his body start to fade into the bright light of energy. I put my arms out and pressed my hands into this light as it instantly flowed into them and then around my whole body.

_I'm the voice inside of you, that says there's nothing you can't do.  
If you could open up your eyes and lay your heart out on the line.  
I'm the voice inside your head, that brings your mind back from the dead.  
I hope that I have served you right, even if only for one night._

The bright blue Psi poured into my body and spirit. It quickly stopped though as the blue light around me suddenly turned bright green.

"What's going on?" I asked. I never saw any lips moving, but I heard his voice inside me head.

"_Didn't know I had this did you, it's a little extra mixed energy to make you as strong as your counterpart. It does have other purposes, but right now that isn't important. Your energies are truly balanced now and should be equal to your Evil self. Now go, do whatever is necessary to take back your body..."_ he said as his voice faded away. The light faded as well, and after sensing my energies out, I found that to be true. Also my mind felt sharper but more relaxed. I felt ready for action, but at the same time wise and cautious enough to think my way through it.

_So I get some more brains now also, anything else Cerebrate?_ I asked, getting no response. He had said that none of his memories would remain, but I suddenly got a piece of one that wasn't pretty. It was the Overmind's plan against my friends and against the Protoss. It not only involved the destruction of both Saiyans and Protoss, but it included plans that extended beyond just our universes. All of those plans depending on one major factor, the evil spirit staying in control of my body. Some of the other things didn't look so good either, but I guessed that my evil self was the key somehow.

_I can't allow any of that to happen even if it kills me, I have to hurry!_ I thought, as I looked straight up. The blue force field still remained, but I was inside and I now saw what appeared to be a bright white hole in the sky. I powered up and flew straight up.

-

_"One Night Only" by Saliva_

-

Gohan flew alongside his father, who was carrying Tassadar on his back. Krator had also come along, who Tora was escorting in a similar way. Vegeta was flying on his other side, watching for any hostiles. Bardock and Fasha were more towards the rear of their small group. Not wanting to risk losing any other Protoss in what may become a battle, everyone decided that it was best that only Tassadar and Krator come along and not Zeratul. They had come into the Zerg territory not long ago, encountering some Zerg in the process. However, most of them appeared to be running away from the area and too focused on something else to even notice them.

"Looks like Kerrigan came through for us after all. They are ignoring us!" Gohan pointed out.

"More than ignoring us boy, they appear to be running from something. I've never seen Zerg move away from an area so quickly, even the Overlords are leaving!" Vegeta pointed out. Indeed, all the flyers and groundlings in the area were spreading out, much farther from their defensive areas and buildings.

"Should we attack, then? It's easy pickings like this," Tora asked from behind.

Tassadar seemed deep in thought, "No, don't entice them, they are even ignoring our Psionic energy signatures. Zerg have never ignored that as long as I've encountered them. We should keep going, I believe the answer to this madness may be just ahead!" They all pressed on until passing a large mountain and spotting a large cluster of hatcheries and one big Hive cluster at the center. A Hive that was being ripped apart by energy beams from the inside.

"Looks like the party started without us, is it Broly?" Bardock asked, scanning ahead.

Gohan shook his head right away, "No I sense mixed energy, it's gotta be Verto. His energy is fluctuating though, like he's mad about something. We should be careful!" Gohan suggested. They landed on the outside wall of the Hive, nowhere near the entrance. Krator silently turned on his Psi blades and cut a large enough rounded hole for them to all go in through. He slid enough material aside to peak through, seeing nothing right away. Gohan shoved the rest of the Zerg tissue out of the way and the group proceeded inside.

The small chamber they had come into was full of premature larvae, not even ready to be formed into a different type of Zerg yet. These larvae were making all kinds of whining sounds, some of them trying to crawl towards the door as the Saiyans walked by.

"Wow, baby Zerg. What are they crying about?" Goku asked.

"I'd rather not know," Vegeta grunted. They ignored the infant Zerg and crept slowly to the next chamber, where they were hearing a lot of blasting going on. Before they could enter it, Kerrigan came through, backing up until she realized who was behind her. She turned in surprise, but kept a serious look to her.

"You should not be here now, he's gone mad and is killing everything he sees. He isn't even seeing things as they are. The Overmind is warping his mind as we speak!" she explained, heading for the newly cut exit.

"Perhaps we can settle him down then wench, there are nothing but true enemies around him after all!" Vegeta pointed out with a cocky but serious tone.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. I didn't expect things to transpire like this. For what it's worth I'm sorry," she said, leaving the area quickly. They entered the central chamber, carefully avoiding a large hole in the floor that was dripping like a fresh wound. Above, the ceiling had all kinds of new sunroofs in it, bleeding from the edges and bringing a red rain to the situation. Ahead they saw Verto in his Super Mystic form, blasting at the walls and whatever Zerg minions might be running by. They all had the intention of getting out of the Hive, but he wasn't letting them leave when they appeared from the lower levels. At least not the way they wanted to leave.

"Verto!" Gohan shouted first. He stopped blasting the instant he heard his name and slowly turned around.

**A/n: Next Time on DBV: The good and evil sides of Verto struggle for control of his body. His friends are there and so are the Zerg. With the Overmind's influence over what his dark side is seeing, is anyone safe from his rage, next time!**


	37. Bonds Broken

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 36: Bonds Broken**

Zerg-Verto growled as he heard a shout from behind him. He was so focused on killing the seemingly endless enemies coming from below that he never noticed anything coming up from behind. He yelled in anguish, sending an angry gust of energy at whoever was behind him. Multiple targets appeared before his eyes, but he locked on the first one that landed. It was another Broly look-alike that was wearing Saiyan armor. This one wasn't powered up to Super Saiyan like most of them had been, but it made no difference to him. He held two fingers up and shot an energy beam directly at his chest. The Saiyan dropped as the beam went through his heart, dying instantly. He could have sworn that this Broly was different from the rest of them, something felt different from what his eyes were telling him.

"Tora, NO!" he heard a shout from the air. There was another Aldaris standing to the right of his fallen form, and Verto's rage kicked up a few more notches.

"Die Aldaris, go back to hell!" Verto shouted, firing another small but potent energy beam. The Protoss warrior dropped like a sack of bricks. Another target demanded attention, and it looked like another Frieza. Zerg-Verto charged another beam into his fingers when he suddenly felt something inside of him shift slightly.

-

I flew upwards to the white light, which seemed to take forever to get to. When I got there though, my whole world changed. My eyes shifted into seeing a large Zerg Hive chamber. My hands were blasting at the walls and roof. My head turned like a swivel, and more beams flew out and struck random Zerg that came into the room from below. Blood dripped onto my body, but I couldn't look at it or even move my hands.

_I'm back in my body, but I'm not in control. My evil self must still be going,_ I thought as the madness continued. I sensed he was angry and was focused on these Zerg like they blew up his dinner. I tried to scan his thoughts, sensing that he regarded these Zerg like I would an evil super villain, much like Buu or Frieza. I heard a shout behind me, it sounded familiar. He turned to see my friends: Goku, Vegeta, Tora, Bardock, Gohan and Fasha all standing there. I also saw Tassadar and what looked to be Zealot Krator as well, but I wasn't completely sure. I felt my energy being pushed outwards and watched as it blew them back and separated them in the process. He saw Tora land first, and I heard him thinking about sending Broly back to Hell. He fired a mixed beam and it went through his heart.

"Tora, NO!_"_ I said aloud, noticing that my voice actually said it. He turned to Krator and called him Aldaris while my own mouth said it, shooting him as well. Then he turned to Fasha and his icy mood went crazy with memories of Frieza.

"No, you're not killing her!" I shouted, powering up. I saw and felt my aura go up, but found I was already at Super Mystic and totally pumped up. I felt control slip into my left side, but not my right side, the side with the blast forming.

"Damn you, you picked the worst time to show up!" Evil-self said though it came from my own mouth.

"You're not killing Fasha! I won't let you!" I screamed at him, trying to pull my right arm down to no avail. My head turned to the left and down to look at my left shoulder like he was talking directly to my face.

"Fasha? What the hell are you talking about? If you had been here earlier or had been watching you would know that somehow another hole to Hell was opened and these guys keep coming back for more!" he stated a fact that he believed to be true.

He turned back up to stare at Fasha like I would Frieza, "And I keep sending them back!" I felt myself smirk as he charged up the beam, ready to fire. She wasn't in any form of Super Saiyan, so it would kill her easily. I powered up more and reached to grab my right arm, pulling it away from its path.

"I won't let you!" I said, pulling with all my might and struggling, but he was still in control of most of my body.

"You may have as much power as me now, but without more you're not getting this body back without joining with me. Forget about it!" he said, shaking my left arm off and rearming. My control of my one arm started to fizzle, I needed to get control back and right away.

"_You'll know what to do, believe in yourself!_" came to my thoughts from far below. I shut my eyes and concentrated on my power, my spirit and my mind. I didn't have all my power to go on though and I needed it for what I wanted to do. I felt the beam leave my right arm right away and opened my eyes. Fasha stood there with a shocked expression on her face, and a smoking hole in her armor. My world turned blue and slowed to a crawl while I watched her slump to the ground.

"NO! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU KILLED HER!!" I shouted aloud.

My Evil self responded right away, "What the hell are you going on about, I killed Frieza again, that's all. Look for yourself!" he said, looking forward. I felt him gasp and shake, "Huh? It's Fasha?" he said in surprise.

"Yes you bastard, you killed her!" I screamed back.

"But how, it was Frieza! I swear it was Frieza," he said, slumping to our hands and knees. Our power jumped up and kept pouring in from within.

"You killed her, I'm not letting you get away with this! Now get out of my body. NO MORE!" I shouted aloud. I managed to get both hands into a power up position as he stood back up.

"I told you, you can't get rid of me because you aren't stronger!" he argued, letting me power us up. He spotted Vegeta in the corner, who was gasping at what had been going on.

"Didn't I tell you to get lost, Buu? I said, get, lost!" he shouted, charging a big blast.

"I said no more, you're leaving!" I shouted back at him, linking my mind, body and spirit together as one with a familiar technique. He must have finally noticed the mental actions, he sure recognized it.

"No, you can't use that, we can't handle that kind of power!" he said, powering down the beam and shaking in fear. I allowed myself to smirk for a moment, fresh thoughts of my beloved Fasha refueled my determination.

"NO, VERTO! Don't use that!" I heard Goku shout.

"It's not worth killing yourself!" my evil half said.

"I don't care, it will get rid of you, murderer! SUPER… Kai-OU-KEN!!!!" I shouted my resolution.

"NO!!!"

-

Gohan and the others shielded themselves from the increased energy output from Verto. His silver hair flashed back to black under the aura, but his aura was dark blue with a lot of energy lightning streaking through it. Gohan felt his power shoot through the roof, much higher than any of them could go, Broly included. The walls of the Hive blew off with the roof, some of it disintegrating. The ground shook violently and everyone had to get into the air, Goku holding onto Tassadar. Another gust of wind came from Verto's screaming body and blew everyone else out of the now crumbled Hive cluster. After about a mile or so of uncontrolled flying, Gohan managed to get control of himself, the others not far behind. All Zerg that were still in the area, were either blown away or flying away rather they were under their own power or not. The extremely strong power surge continued until a final scream came with a bright green explosion. It was small and concentrated, but there was no doubt about how much power was coming from it as it lit up the skies. Soon after the sudden eruption of power, it settled down into nothing. Gohan scanned for any trace of Verto, finding none at all. Gohan noticed the Zerg buildings that remained were starting to bleed on their own, and soon tumbled downward. The Zerg in the surrounding area started to wonder about, and he sensed some of them attacking each other.

"Hey look, these Zerg are going crazy," Gohan said as the others flew up to him.

"Their primarily Hive cluster has been damaged beyond repair. With the Overmind in hibernation, it seems that they have all gone out of control for now! Kerrigan may have been killed as well, but once the main hive is gone this will happen," Tassadar explained.

"Where's Verto at?" Goku asked. They all flew back down to the broken Hive, landing on the edge of a deep and wide hole. At the bottom, they spotted the bodies of Krator, Tora and Fasha, none moving as expected.

"I can't believe he killed them," Bardock whispered.

"It wasn't him grandpa, it was his dark side. I sensed both of them in his body at the same time. We heard them having that argument," Gohan explained.

Vegeta growled, "I told her not to come along."

"It's my fault Vegeta, I convinced her to come along. If I hadn't, then this may not have happened," Gohan said, though Goku looked pretty sorrow filled as well.

"It's not your fault boy, nor is it truly his," Vegeta said in a soft tone.

"What happened to Verto then?" Tassadar asked, looking straight down into the deep hole. Goku didn't want to answer, nor did Vegeta.

"His body overloaded and he most likely died from it, his body probably vanished with him," Gohan said, choking back a tear or two. Vegeta yelled in anger, firing a ki beam to the bottom of the pit, hitting the deceased dead on and turning the bodies to ash.

"They deserve a warriors burial. Let's get the hell out of here!" Vegeta barked, taking off into the sky. Everyone understood his quick exit, they all felt the same way. Vegeta didn't want to be in front of everyone should he decide to mourn at all, it was a pride thing. Everyone save Gohan took to the air, heading back towards the Protoss camp. Gohan took one last look around, sighing heavily.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry, old friend. Sorry...that I couldn't help you," he said softly, taking off as well.

**Interlude 36.1: Other World**

"Oh my, I never expected something like this to happen," Old Kai shuddered as he and Kibito watched Gohan leave the battered Zerg Hive.

"So should I go pick them up at King Yemma's then?" Kibito Kai asked carefully.

"Yes, please do so Kibito. Verto may have vanquished that dark spirit, but at a terrible price. At least he didn't have to live through all the suffering he was likely to endure with Fasha being dead, please go get him from Yemma's and send Fasha to North Kai for training. Tora is to go into stasis like the other two. The only reason I'm sending her ahead is a favor for Verto, he will need to get his grieving time out of the way if he is to get on with his training. But bring him here first, understood?"

"Yes sir!" Kibito bowed as he phased out. He arrived at King Yemma's right away, startling the judge of the dead.

"Supreme Kai! To what end do I honor your presence here?" Yemma asked, bowing a bit even though Kibito was in front of his desk.

"Just waiting on some new arrivals, friends of Goku's! Two are Saiyans from the past, Tora is to go to stasis like the other one, but Fasha is to go to North Kai's place. Verto should be coming as well; I will take him with me. Got that?" Kibito Kai explained.

"Understood sir, the portal should be appearing anytime from the other universe. They were very prompt in getting Shugesh's soul here!" Yemma said. A red portal suddenly appeared on the wall. Tora walked through it and into the palace, looking around in wonder. Just as he did, a fresh sheet of paper appeared on Yemma's desk.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

Kibito Kai laughed slightly, "You died actually, and you need to go with this attendant to a stasis chamber. We will keep you as you are until it is time for you to be wished back!"

"Man, what a trip. The last thing I remember was Verto going berserk about something and he blasted me!" Tora explained.

"Yes I know, I'm what you would call the Supreme Kai. I was watching the whole thing from my world, my apologies for what it's worth!"

"It's okay, guess I'll go this way," Tora mumbled as the ogre attendant took his arm and led him away.

"I'm glad they sent their paperwork ahead, saves me all kinds of trouble getting it later," Yemma grumbled as another one appeared. Fasha came through next, also confused at the new environment.

"Fasha right? You're to take that path to the airplane pad and take a plane to Grand Kai's planet. When you find the North Kai there, you will stay with him for training!" Yemma bellowed, startling her.

"Hold on a sec King Yemma. Let's wait for Verto to come through!" Kibito suggested.

"Oh, of course," Yemma complied. Fasha looked even more confused, and even scared, but turned with the Kai to watch the strange red portal. A few minutes went by while Kibito waited and Yemma whistled a bit. Nothing came through, not even air.

"Is there a bit of a delay or what, I can't wait forever Supreme Kai! I don't want any more lines out my palace door today!" Yemma bellowed after five minutes went by. Kibito Kai was also confused, and so he went towards the portal and went through it, surprising Yemma and the other ogres to say the least. He came back a few minutes later, with a bit of a shocked expression.

"So what's the deal, are they keeping them there for some reason. They shoved me right through that portal!" Fasha said, stamping her foot a bit.

"Did they send him down to their own Hell?" Yemma asked. Kibito shook his head to both questions.

"No, he's not there," Kibito answered slowly.

"Not there?" Yemma and Fasha both asked.

"Yeah, they said he hadn't checked in yet, and I looked all around their check in station, he wasn't there at all, nor did I sense him! Even if he went to their Hell I would have sensed it! Unless he's keeping his energy extremely low. However, he has no reason to do that..." Kibito pondered.

"Wait a sec, if he isn't there and they hadn't seen him at all, then what happened?" Fasha asked.

Kibito Kai gasped as he looked up at her, "That means...!"

"What?" Yemma asked.

Kibito turned back to the portal, seeing it vanish before his eyes, "That means he's alive!"

**A/N: Well now, that chapter was full of twists wasn't it? Only reason I spelled Kaioken wrong was to interpret that he was saying it slowly. A bit of a break from Char for the time being, but it won't last long.**

**Next time on DBV: Verto is alive, but his whereabouts are unknown. Fasha is taken to the Grand Kai's planet and meets up with King Kai and Videl. Just when it looks like there will be a catfight, Dabura shows up and both girls accept his challenge for a fight. Fasha tells Videl to back down, but is then shocked to see Videl's hidden power.**


	38. New Found Friends

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 37: New Found Friends**

"How can he be alive? I don't get it," Kibito Kai asked himself, though Yemma and Fasha were listening in.

"What do you mean, what happened?" Fasha asked.

"Well, you probably know that whatever was in control of Verto was the one who killed you. Well, the Verto that we know went berserk afterwards and pushed his powers up too high by using his Kaioken power up while at his maximum power. The amount of energy he unleashed should have killed him, there's no way a child's body can handle a level of power that high. Actually I'm not sure if Gohan could have even handled it!" Kibito explained.

"So he's supposed to be dead, but he isn't?" Fasha asked in plain terms.

"Yeah, basically, oh boy. What am I going to tell my elder about this? Argh, why can't my assignments be easier," Kibito groaned.

"Well is there anything we can do to let the others know?" Fasha asked with a slight frown, tapping her foot while Kibito continued to whine a bit.

He looked up at her with a slightly sad look, "Afraid not, we are forbidden to interfere in any way with what goes on in that dimension. It's the rules," Kibito explained.

Fasha's mood didn't improve any, "Fuck the rules, if he's barely alive we can't just let him die!" she said.

"Death might be a blessing considering what he may go through now," Kibito muttered.

"What was that?" Fasha screeched.

"Oh, sorry you weren't meant to hear that, but you probably already know. Since you died, he's liable to kill himself now, isn't that right?" Kibito asked carefully.

Fasha's angry tone flipped back to worried really fast, "Oh crap, that's right. We were supposed to dissolve the connection between us but we weren't together long enough to do it. Oh no!" she moaned slightly, sinking to her knees.

"What happens with this bond thing? I'm not quite familiar with it," Yemma asked with his booming voice, startling the Kai and Saiyan.

"Well, he's probably going to be very depressed for sure, it does different things to Saiyans. It's not always the same. If someone else kills one's mate, which is much more common, then that Saiyan will likely not rest until his or her mate is avenged. It sort of depends on who did the killing. If one dies by an unknown source or by accident, like their ship blew up, the spouse usually goes into shock for awhile, and eventually commits suicide. If the one spouse kills the other, well, actually I'm not sure about that one. I've never heard of that happening," Fasha said thoughtfully considering the situation.

"You ought to write a book on that," Yemma commented.

"Well, I would think that he would identify his evil self or the Overmind as the killer wouldn't he, so technically he didn't do it. But he got rid of his evil self so then what?" Kibito asked her.

"Well he was seeing things wrong right, his mind was being messed with by someone else right?" Fasha asked. Kibito nodded, Yemma just shrugged, totally lost by now.

"Well if it was the Overmind that was doing it, he would have been the direct cause right? His other self didn't attack me on purpose. He called me Frieza. The nerve!" she said, exasperated.

"So what you're saying is that maybe he has identified the Overmind as the killer, and maybe he won't kill himself because of that?" Kibito asked, confused now as well.

"Something like that, but were assuming that he's actually thinking logically. What if he isn't?" Fasha replied.

"Guess we just have to hope," Yemma slid back in, trying to be part of the conversation.

"Hey, where is Tora?" Fasha asked, looking around.

"We had to send Tora to a stasis holding cell until you guys are ready to be wished back, Shugesh and Borgos are there already. The reason is because we can't risk you guys running into yourselves in Hell. As weird as it sounds, there may be some dire consequences with that happening. We took the precaution that it may happen otherwise and put them into stasis already, all five of your counterparts are there as well. We obviously don't plan to put Bardock there if he never comes up here, but his counterpart is already here," Kibito explained.

"So I'm going there now too?" Fasha asked.

"No actually, you're going to the Grand Kai's planet for some training with North Kai. It's a favor to Verto for what he's been through lately, we feel some of it is our fault. Plus when this mess is through you two need to remove that bond we spoke of earlier, ready to go?" Kibito asked, holding out a hand.

"Uh, sure. Didn't the big guy there say I had to take some sort of transportation?" Fasha asked, getting a slight groan from King Yemma.

Kibito waved it off, "Yeah, but we can use my Instantaneous Movement instead!"

"If you two don't mind, I have a long line starting to form because of your dillydallying!" Yemma barked. Kibito and Fasha vanished an instant later.

-

Kibito reappeared with Fasha on Grand Kai's planet, glancing around to make sure he had aimed right. He quickly sensed King Kai off to the right by about a mile.

"Okay, you'll find North Kai off over there, sorry I can't stay but I have places to be right now! See you around!" Kibito quickly instructed before vanishing. _Why was he in such a hurry to go?_ Fasha asked herself.

She glanced around, seeing quite a few warriors of many races around her. Most of them were pretty spread out, but you couldn't miss them, as they were all in some sort of training. She noticed that all of them were sporting halos, before reaching up and feeling one around her head herself. She sighed and walked slowly towards where Kibito pointed, she didn't want to miss this Kai she was supposed to get training from. She had heard a few times that someone named King Kai had trained Goku and a few of the others, _maybe this is the same guy._

Fasha walked along while briefly observing the other warriors around her, all feeling pretty strong compared to what could be translated as normal to a Saiyan. At the same time though, she outclassed all of them pretty easily. She felt a few stronger power levels around the planet, but nothing to horribly outlandish, the highest one felt close to her at Super Saiyan. She happened to glance at one warrior in particular that looked back at her. It resembled a blue fish, only was humanoid. She gasped slightly, as it looked like a Kanassan. He glared at her a bit, but went back to his meditation. _Oh man, I didn't realize that I would see people that we Saiyans had killed up here, I feel terrible_, she thought in surprise. She quickly realized that any other time she would have brushed it aside. Staying with the Z fighters, particularly Verto, had really changed her more than she realized.

Up ahead she spotted a two-story house, one that looked rather new. She walked up slowly, seeing a small blue fish-like being watching a large blond man working out in the air. The blue guy had some sort of weird hat on and wore sunglasses that had to stretch across his face. She took a good look at the man working out in the air. He was pretty strong, and his appearance and ki signal resembled that of a human. As she walked up, a small monkey and what looked to be a large cricket came running by with a bag. The monkey handed it to the blue man, who thanked it and watched as it went running by Fasha again, the cricket following.

"Hello there, are you lost?" the blue man said.

"Kind of, I'm looking for a North Kai. Another Kai named Kibito sent me up here but didn't say what he looked like," Fasha said, looking around.

"He didn't say what he looked like huh? That's Kibito Kai for ya, even he forgets something important. You might as well look for a particular blade of grass around the whole planet. It's hard to pinpoint one dead guy when you don't know what he looks like!" he said.

"Oh he's dead too? That would make it a little harder wouldn't it? Do you know what he looks like?" Fasha said with a slight smile.

"Oh of course, since your new I wouldn't expect you to know, but everyone up here knows what North Kai looks like. He's the funniest man in the entire universe!" Blue said with a slight chuckle.

"Okay, what does he look like and where can I find him?" Fasha asked, noting how much attention this blue fish man was giving the god in question.

"He's very handsome, and closer than you think, but what makes you think you can just see him when you want? He's a busy man you know!" he said.

Fasha looked slightly dumbfounded, but stood tall, "Okay, what kind of test do I need to pass? Do I have to fight someone or something?"

The Blue man looked slightly frightened now, "Nonono, you have to make me laugh. If you can make someone like me laugh, then you are worthy of seeing North Kai!" Fasha looked stunned and allowed her face to show it. The big human in the air stopped his routine to look down at what was going on.

"I'm, uh, not good with jokes," Fasha mumbled, twiddling her thumbs in panic.

"Oh, well that's a shame, you won't get to meet North Kai and get his training with that kind of attitude!" Blue said, turning his back and waiting patiently. The human landed and whispered in his ear, too quiet for Fasha to hear.

"King Kai, is this a new recruit?" Olibu asked.

"Yeah, she's another Saiyan, just giving her my usual first test. As stubborn and serious as I expected," King Kai said, chuckling with Olibu at the girl's difficulty to come up with something funny.

The door to the house swung open, "Hey King Kai, did you want extra noodles with your soup?" Fasha looked over in surprise, seeing someone she didn't expect. That someone, named Videl, frowned when she spotted her.

"Way to go Videl, ruined my fun," King Kai muttered as Fasha stared at him hard.

"So you're King Kai? What's the deal telling me I had to make you laugh?" Fasha shouted slightly.

"It's just a little fun I like to have with the new trainees, sorry about that. I've seen that most Saiyans don't possess a sense of humor," King Kai said, his head hung low for a moment.

"What are you doing here?" Videl asked, changing the subject. King Kai frowned a little deeper, whispering to Olibu to get ready to break up a catfight.

-

"And that's what happened," Fasha said, explaining everything that had happened to her knowledge. Videl kept her head bent in sadness, though slightly relieved that both Gohan and Verto were alive. Fasha did not mention any details about Verto's evil self, but then she didn't know much about the situation anyway. She had assumed that it was the Zerg influence all along.

King Kai looked a bit interested to an extent, "Supreme Kai said that he used Kaioken at his Super Mystic level and survived? Truly remarkable. If I hadn't have heard it from witnesses I wouldn't have believed it. But still, they are right, he should have died from that. I know his child body cannot take that kind of power, or can it?" he suddenly asked himself, turning around and thinking carefully.

"What's up King Kai?" Videl asked, casting a slight glare at Fasha when she stepped a bit closer.

"As you probably know, Verto learned the Kaioken technique after his second fight with Majin Buu. You remember when he transformed into the Great Ape form right?" he asked.

Videl nodded, but Fasha became confused, "I thought he couldn't transform?"

"That was before he met you Fasha, and before his inner power was released. As I remember it, the final Kid form of Buu fought everyone on the planet of the Kai's, Supreme Kai's world. Verto transformed again and used the Kaioken technique to gain extra power so he could hold off Buu while Goku gathered the Spirit Bomb. He couldn't hold it for long, but it was long enough to fight with Buu and give him a pounding. From what you're telling me now, his power level must have reached an even higher plateau than it was back then. If he could ever be trained to handle that…" King Kai began to daydream about the possibilities.

"Then, he would probably be one of the greatest and most powerful warriors to ever exist!" a much darker and deeper voice answered for him, coming from above.

"Huh?" the foursome asked as they all looked up.

"Hey, I know you! You're that Dabura guy, the one who turned Krillin and Piccolo into stone on Earth!" Videl said, pointing him out.

"Correct, I see that I am not easily forgotten either," Dabura said, landing with a grin.

"What the heck is he? Looks like a demon or something," Fasha said, tensed up a bit.

"Actually he's the Demon King. He supposedly comes from the same dimension you were just in Fasha. He's the one who warned Verto about the Zerg," King Kai explained.

"Why isn't he in his own dimension then?" Fasha asked, giving Dabura the eye of a challenger.

"It's a fantastic theory, but I was merely seen there first. I'm not about to tell you where I've been in all my years," Dabura chuckled.

"You're also looking at Verto's next teacher, I'm sorry to say," Kai said, frowning deeply.

"He has to learn from a demon? Why can't you teach him?" Videl asked.

"Because the Kais won't teach him what I can, it's against their code. But they also can't teach him something they don't understand either, most Kais would never fathom the kind of powers the boy possesses," Dabura said, chuckling a little.

"He doesn't need some washed up evil old demon to teach him anything! You're just gonna fill his head with evil thoughts of conquest or something aren't you?" Videl asked, picking quite the time to be brave. She also hadn't sensed his ki level yet. Fasha had though, and put her arm up to keep Videl where she was.

"Oh please, that boy is has much too strong of a mind to be manipulated like that, despite what has happened to him lately. His soft attitude does need to be removed, but he can do that himself. I only plan to teach him what he needs to know about his powers, and maybe how to actually fight well, that is all. Anyone care for a demonstration?" Dabura asked, holding up his hand. Olibu stayed back, knowing he was no match at all. Videl was headstrong to take him on, but Fasha pushed her back lightly.

"I'll fight you, I'm not scared of any demons!" Fasha said, stepping up.

"I will too!" Videl announced, getting everyone's attention.

King Kai looked slightly worried, "Hey if you are gonna fight may I request you do it elsewhere, I don't want my house blown up!"

Dabura grinned wickedly, "Follow me girls!" he said, flying off into the distance.

"Videl you can't fight him, you're much too weak. He'd tear you up easily, stay here!" Fasha ordered as she flew off, following Dabura. A white aura flew by her pretty fast, slowing for her to catch up.

"Videl?" Fasha asked, amazed when she caught up.

"What, you think I just did the cooking up here?" Videl grinned as both girls flew into the distance.

-

Dabura stood still, waiting for them in a dark arena. He had asked the Grand Kai to use the tournament setting for any sparring matches or training he did, so he didn't run the risk of blowing up the Kai planet. The Grand Kai agreed to this so long as he repaired whatever damage he did. He sensed the girls enter the room, or dimension as it was more properly termed, it wasn't exactly a normal room.

"Wow, check this place out!" Videl said, eyes wondering around they stepped onto the invisible ground.

"How does he fit it all into one room?" Fasha asked.

"He's the Grand Kai, who knows?" Videl said, wondering herself a little.

"That must be it up there, I sense Horn Head, let's go!" Fasha pointed at the large asteroid that held the tournament arena. Both girls flew up and landed in the ring, staring Dabura down.

He began to laugh a little, "This is a familiar setting for me, both of your boyfriends fought me just like you're about to! The only difference this time is that this fight will have a winner!"

"Why, who won last time?" Fasha asked.

"Majin Buu got involved, but there is no one around here now! It's funny; those two worked very well together and were the best of friends. You two however have quite a dislike of each other from what I've seen. Let's see if it pans out the same way!" Dabura challenged, powering up. His deep red aura shook the arena and knocked Videl off of her feet. Fasha looked somewhat concerned about letting Videl get involved, she knew she couldn't be that powerful, flying as fast as she did meant nothing.

"Stand back Videl, I'll handle this!" Fasha declared, powering up herself. She only went to her maximum in normal form, as Dabura had not gone that high either.

"Impressive power girl, more than I expected. Fighting with the Zerg must have made you a little tougher!" Dabura said, slightly surprised but not showing it.

"I could go higher if you want," she smirked brightly.

"Not yet, Videl, it's your turn!" Dabura said, looking down at the other girl.

"Um, question?" Videl asked.

"Go ahead!"

"Can I fight in some other clothes?" she said in a meek voice. Fasha groaned slightly while her blue aura flowed around her.

"What's wrong, afraid we'll get your current attire dirty?" Dabura asked.

"No, it's just that I'd rather fight with normal clothes on, not this heavy stuff! King Kai had me wearing this one hundred and fifty pound shirt for a long time now. The planet has ten times Earth's gravity!" Videl said, pointing to her pink undershirt. Dabura looked a bit amused at this and pointed at her, his finger glowing red. Instantly she felt lighter as her clothes flashed with light, looking slightly cleaner as well. Fasha felt her ki level go up drastically as a result.

"All right then, you'll get that weight back after this fight is over, now are you ready or not?" Dabura asked impatiently.

"Yeah, I'm ready!" Videl said, starting to release her ki. A white aura appeared as Videl powered up, surprising Fasha a little since she had never sensed any sort of power from her. She wasn't done though, Fasha felt her power level double itself fast as a new red aura surrounded her.

"Kaioken, times two!" Videl said as she managed to get some of the ring tiles floating around before she finished, dropping the aura but keeping her ki level steady.

"Well, it seems North Kai hasn't completely wasted his time on you, but you are still on the low end of things!" Dabura stated.

"Yeah, I know," Videl said, admiring herself a little. Fasha was quite amazed though, Videl felt a bit somewhere around a quarter of Krillin's power when she last sensed him at full. _In only a few months, not bad Videl. Maybe being mated to Gohan and carrying his child had something to do with it, _Fasha thought to herself.

"Who knows, maybe it did," Videl said without looking at her.

Fasha's head snapped over, "I didn't say that aloud!"

"Oh great, must be the combined telepathy between us and Verto," Videl looked slightly flustered about this.

"Well now, maybe it'll be a true reenactment then. Those two could co-ordinate their attacks through their thoughts as well!" Dabura laughed a bit.

"Well then, Videl, shall we show him?" Fasha asked with a brighter grin.

"Sure thing!" Videl said as both girls streaked upwards at the demon king.

**A/N: I know I'm going to get a question/review on why Videl's power level is now so high after only a few months of training with King Kai. Everyone knows he isn't THAT good. There is an explanation for it in the next chapter along with some numbers for those who want them.**


	39. The Whereabouts of Happiness

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 38: The Whereabouts of Happiness**

Dabura dropped into his stance as both girls charged in. He blocked both punches aimed for his head with both forearms. Then blocked both kicks aimed for his stomach with his knees. All curled up, he could push both girls back with his energy when he broke out of the block. Videl flew around to attack from the backside while Fasha attacked from the front. Instead Dabura lined up and shot out two red blasts with both hands directed at either girl. They both dodged them, but then had to fly around a bit while the energy chased them, directed by Dabura. They glanced at each other and both flew straight at Dabura. Dabura kept his grin as he allowed both girls to get close before dashing upwards. They gave each other thumbs up before looking down to see that Dabura hadn't been hit. He had stopped the two blasts a few feet short before looking up at them and smiling wickedly.

"Oh crap," Fasha managed to say.

BOOM! Both red blasts then zoomed up faster than either girl could react and made contact with a pretty decent explosion. Fasha dropped back to the ground, for the most part unaffected other than a slight pain in the chest. Videl clutched at her gut on the way down to the ground, suffering a slightly greater impact.

"Videl you shouldn't fight in this match. He isn't even trying and you're no match for this!" Fasha warned.

"No, it's okay, I need to know how far I can push myself!" Videl said, standing up straight. Her shirt had a nice hole torn right through it right under her ribs, showing a bright red mark that would surely be a bruise before the day was done.

"She's right you know. Your training isn't enough to compete at this level, never mind any further. You should stick to cooking," Dabura chuckled slightly.

"Shut up. I'll give you my best shot!" Videl declared, her red aura reappearing and charging Dabura, who was more than ready. Fasha jumped at him as Videl attacked him in a flurry. He dodged all of Videl's attacks while blocking Fasha's, all the time keeping a fat grin on his face. He kicked Fasha away before stopping Videl by grabbing her head and squeezing a bit. Videl cried aloud in pain, trying to get him off. Dabura began to punch her midsection pretty hard, trying to get her to push a little harder. Fasha charged back in, before seeing Dabura's hand go up with a blast ready to go.

"Don't even think about it, you'll get yours!" he warned.

"Let her go or deal with me!" Fasha shouted back.

"No, Fasha, I can still get him!" Videl groaned. Dabura chuckled slightly as he hit her some more, seeing some blood streak down her chin and tearing her clothes a little more.

"I'd ask how, but he's already got you beat. Just give up and I'll take it from here!" Fasha called back.

"She's got a point you know, even at this level you're still just a bystander to the true warriors of Earth!" Dabura taunted slightly.

"I'll show you what I can do!" Videl growled. She charged ki into her hands and started blasting hard and fast in front of her. Her arms roared like a train as she fired multiple ki blasts, but when the smoke cleared, it had done nothing.

"Nice try. You have the fire, just not the power!" Dabura laughed again.

"Fine, guess I'll go all out! Kaio-ken, times ten!" she shouted. Her aura expanded and sharpened violently before blowing Dabura's hand off her head and causing him to back up a bit with caution. Fasha's eyes widened more when she felt Videl's power signal and it was as high as her own. Videl kept a grim look before charging a big blast behind her.

"Kamehameha!" She hit Dabura right on and kept her beam going even as her aura and energy died out quickly. As her beam died out, she saw that Dabura had erected some sort of red shield around himself, and it had shielded him from any impact from her beam.

Videl sank to her knees as her energy did the same, "Well, it was worth a shot!" Dabura dropped the shield, looking rather impressed himself.

"I suppose you're not that worthless, the child's energy must have boosted it," Dabura noted.

Fasha gasped slightly, looking straight at Dabura but also glancing at Videl, "What do you mean?"

"When she died, her unborn child's high energy passed to her by default. That is why her training went so quick when she finally managed to tap into all of it. It is a little unusual for a mortal to achieve a higher power level in this way, but it's not out of the question either. Carrying the child of Gohan certainly didn't hurt," Dabura cracked slightly.

"Will my child take that energy back? Kibito said that its spirit was going to be preserved and all," Videl asked without looking.

"Probably not, it will be given new strength considering the child's father. Just don't slack off too much and you won't lose it. Now then, Fasha, shall we have a real match?" Dabura asked as Videl got out of the ring.

Fasha smiled brightly as she landed in the ring again, "Thought you'd never ask!" Two auras filled the area a moment later, one red and one gold.

-

Fasha battled furiously to get through Dabura's defenses, and only got more frustrated. She was at her maximum at Super Saiyan two and was still having loads of problems. She had heard briefly that this Dabura was strong, but that an ascended Saiyan shouldn't have too much of a problem. This belonged to some of Goku's storytelling in the time chamber when they trained for two days prior to the Zerg. She quickly learned that information was now outdated. This guy had an answer for everything that she threw at him. She hadn't really dipped into everything that Vegeta had been teaching her yet, but those were mostly high power moves. Dabura seemed to be waiting for a high power move before he really attacked, he wasn't in a big hurry to finish this fight. She attacked brutality with punches and kicks, most of which were blocked or parried aside. She threw an absurd amount of ki blasts at him, most of which were dodged or knocked away. She resorted to medium power beams only to watch that red shield pop up again no matter how fast she gathered them. She got through his blocks a few times, but the hits she scored didn't do anything. She wasn't winded yet, but the fact that she was the only one attacking really bothered her.

"Why don't you attack?" she asked directly after a long time of no communication.

"Why don't you, you're an ascended Saiyan right? Surely a little Demon King isn't that much of a threat?" Dabura smirked at her. This got Fasha even angrier and she attacked out of it, leaving her wide open on her left side after a few punches. Dabura took advantage of this and let her have a point blank energy blast that left a big hole in the side of her armor, leaving bare but muscled skin around the love handle area. She clutched at it in pain, cursing silently that she made such a mistake.

"The smartest warrior wins the battle of defense. You can attack all you want, but unless you efficiently defend all attacks made on you, you are more than likely not going to win. If you use up all your energy attacking, nothing is left to defend yourself with, save for your own physical body. As you know, that doesn't cut it in a fight at this level. One mistake can decide the entire battle. Quite often the winner of the fight is the one who strictly defends himself to the point where the opponent has worn down themselves enough to be finished off with one attack. This is what Verto must learn to be the perfect warrior!" Dabura said, landing and powering down a bit. Fasha dropped back to the first level of Super Saiyan, landing and holding her side, interested now in what Dabura had to say.

"I thought you said he would be one of the greatest fighters ever?" she asked.

"He has that potential, but a lot of his movements are strictly offensive. He knows how to block some hits and return them, but he must learn to focus a majority of his energies to defense! That and his body must be strengthened to handle that energy for a long time, as most defensive battles take a while to finish. It may not sound like an effective way to fight, but it is one of the more efficient ways, especially when faced with multiple adversaries. That is his number one thing to learn whenever he trains under me! I can teach him many things about his powers, but the only other thing that he must do is develop more effective attacks when using Chi!" Dabura stated, turning and heading for the exit.

"What the heck is Chi?" Fasha asked though Videl was about to.

"Oh, I forget that most mortals don't know about it. It is simply the total energy of any life form. Many mistake this for Ki, which is life energy and is a portion of it, but not the total package. Verto and Gohan are some of the few that can access Psi, which is spirit energy. Combine those and you have the complete soul energy known as Chi. Most mortals cannot access Psi or Chi, its knowledge was erased from the more primitive minds because of its sometimes destructive and intoxicating use. Kais and demons can use this energy though, including myself. These two energies can be combined at any level for an effective attack, but they possess the most energy when combined equally as you may or may not have heard. I cannot use Psi however, when I power up the energy automatically converts itself for reasons I don't understand completely myself. I have tried to find Psi within myself for a very long time with very little success. Are there any more questions?" Dabura asked. Both girls looked like they had been through the math class from hell, but shook their heads no. Dabura began to walk towards the entrance before Fasha suddenly thought of something.

"Hey is there any way we can see Verto from here, like monitor him or something?" she asked, Videl nodded.

Dabura chuckled slightly, "I can, by tapping into the link that I have with my daughter!"

"Daughter?" both girls exclaimed with gaping jaws.

"I get that reaction a lot. But I do not feel like discussing those details; I had business with Babidi at the time. I planted a secret link in her young mind so that I could check on her without anyone's knowledge. Despite her formidable telepathic abilities, she still doesn't know about it, nor does the Overmind thankfully. With that link I can scan around the world she is on, checking on anything that I want to as long as it isn't in someone else's mind. I can only look into another's thoughts if she already is, but I can't force her to look for me. She'd surely find out if I tried that! What's that saying? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? I could just picture that reaction!" Dabura laughed aloud. The girls barely recognized this as his version of a joke, but understood it.

"Is your daughter with the Zerg, is she that Kerrigan chick?" Videl asked straight up.

"Good deduction. Yes, she is. Strangely enough she has Psionic abilities without ki or Chi ability. But enough of that, let's watch this viewing ball, it should show the boy!" Dabura said, using his powers to create one. Verto showed up on the screen, very pale looking and out cold. He was bleeding at several other points besides his deep scars, but just a trickle.

Fasha and Videl gasped at all the scars on his body, "What the hell did that to him?" Fasha asked.

"The Super Saiyan Broly did, and the Overmind didn't let his Zerg cells regenerate him in time, if at all!" Dabura said with a slight frown.

"Broly did?" Videl asked.

"Long story," Fasha sighed slightly.

"It appears that most of his Zerg cells have retreated, more than likely they were blown off and partially ejected from his bloodstream when he used too much power after his evil self killed you. There are some left, but just at the tip of his tail. Probably won't take much to get rid of the rest as long as he doesn't wait too long!" Dabura explained, zooming in and out at different points on the fallen Saiyan's image.

"His evil self?" Videl asked now.

"Long story," Dabura and Fasha both said.

Videl grimaced at the lack of an answer, "Is he ever going to wake up?"

"Eventually, he's too strong inside to be killed by a little overload. He'd have to be beaten very badly for it to kill him. Though he probably shouldn't try that little trick any time soon," Dabura explained.

"Too confusing," Videl said, holding her head slightly.

"I will keep monitoring him until he comes to me for training. I can't see the future like the Kais can, so I don't know what may happen. I'll update you from time to time. You two should go back to North Kai now, I'm sure he has some sort of exercise for you to do! I will hold training sessions from time to time if you two wish to learn how to fight," Dabura said, shutting off his ball and making it vanish. Fasha and Videl walked out slowly, a bit more informed than they had been when they entered. He listened briefly to Fasha beginning to tell Videl about what had been going on before they were out of range.

"You can come out now Kai," Dabura said.

Kibito Kai appeared in front of him right away, "How did you know I was here?"

"You stick out like a foul smell," Dabura laughed.

"You really shouldn't have told those girls such things about Verto and some of his and your powers. That was not information that they needed to know. What if they spoke of it to another?" Kibito asked in a raised voice.

"Settle down Kai, those two are not ones that would leak information onto a massive amount of mortals. Not to mention that, but how many would actually believe them aside from their family and friends?" Dabura asked to Kibito's blank look.

"Why did you tell them in how you were going to train Verto? You didn't even tell us, the Kais!"

"You never bothered to ask, you only requested that I train him how to use his Chi energy. What I teach him otherwise is of no concern to you," Dabura chuckled again at the Kai's expense.

"And you have an active link to your daughter Kerrigan? One of the most known and deadly of the Overmind's agents!" Kibito asked in panic mode.

"Again, you need to settle down Kai. If you and the dinosaur have really been watching effectively, you would know that she isn't truly on the Overmind's side. She is on her own objectives, and none of those involve your dimension of rule. So calm down before you steam out like Majin Buu!"

Kibito blushed slightly, "Just don't be spreading this to North Kai, I don't need him trying to contact the other dimension!"

"Don't worry Kai, your underlings are quite often smarter than you realize. Anything your futuristic mind can tell me about our young friend?"

Kibito looked flustered, "Ever since the Verto's evil self was released, we haven't gotten a clear vision. My elder and I tried again not long ago, but we keep getting nothing but clouds in our vision regarding that dimension. We have no idea what is going to happen now!"

Dabura gave Kibito a nasty grin, "Perhaps your vaunted powers aren't working properly, and it's not like you two do much preventive work in the correct way!"

Kibito glared at him, "No it isn't that, we checked by looking at the Earth's future, it is also clouded. We looked at other planets that are not impacted by these events and they were moving along as normal. The Earth's future is as unknown as young Verto's is!" Kibito said, before teleporting out promptly.

Dabura snorted slightly as he walked out of the arena, "Interesting, that planet's future is intertwined with the boy's, very intriguing!"

Interlude 38.1: Earth

Back on Earth, many pedestrians were passing by the newly reconstructed Capsule Corp building. This was no longer the company's headquarters as just about everyone knew. It mostly served as the home of the Briefs family and whoever was staying with them at the time. The new building had been put up right where the old one was, and had started going up the day after the Zerg and Protoss had left. Just about everyone knew that both alien races were gone and that the golden fighters had defeated the evil ones. Most did not know of their mission to space, only that they hadn't been spotted for a while. Some of the closer people of the Satan family knew that something had happened to Videl, but the cover up was that she was severely injured and had some sort of emergency surgery and would not come out of her house for a long while. Whoever wanted to dispute that or butt in ended up talking to Mr. Satan himself, who promptly shut them up with their own fear before giving them the boot out of the door. Most reporters then got the rumor that Vegeta had moved into the Satan mansion. This raised questions with Bulma, especially with her newly born daughter on hand. She declined comment on the rumors, but kept a sharp grin in doing so, saying that she never knew when he may strike if the press were bugging her or Mr. Satan too much. That put a stop to most of the nosiness.

The current day was absolutely beautiful, the sun was bright, the temperature was warm, and the birds were singing. It was hard not to look back to the new Capsule Corp home, shining brightly in the sun. This lasted for a minimal amount of time before a small explosion sounded from inside, leaving smoke coming out of one of the windows. The onlookers kept moving, for them it was normal. Not many people knew what caused these little incidents, but as long as they kept it small and contained on their own property, they didn't mind too much. This incident was regarding a game of dodge ball between Goten and Trunks while their minder was attempting to stop them. Only the ball was made out of energy blasts, not rubber. Their babysitter was quite brave considering present company, and he was strong enough to handle it. However these two demons could run anyone into the ground mentally and physically.

"Goten! Trunks! You two better not have blown out another window!" Bulma screeched from below. She sighed, knowing that they had already, luckily the explosion sound didn't compare to her voice. She was rocking her new baby girl, Bulla, to sleep in her cradle. The baby had become used to the small explosion sounds and screeching voices, as long as they weren't directly near her. If that was the case, she had a fit with anyone around her. She was quite feisty in her early infancy, crying and getting angry often. This stopped for some reason after Bulma and her father carefully removed her tail. They didn't get it completely just in case Vegeta became too upset about it and gave it room to grow back. Vegeta had never left instructions about it, saying that it wasn't completely important to him. With Verto being the only one with a tail and no longer having a transformation gene, they were all safe from any moonlit accidents. Dende hadn't decided yet about bringing the moon back, saying it depended on how well the Earth stayed balanced without it. It had been discussed before, but with more appearances by other Saiyans and newborns, such talk ended quickly. Nothing catastrophic had happened yet other than the occasional super powered evil villain showing up and there being a big battle with plenty of giant explosions. So with those thoughts in mind, bringing the moon back became a stronger possibility in the future, though Bulma preferred things to stay as they were for now. Mostly for scientific study on whether or not the Earth could remain stable over a long period of time without the moon.

After she was assured that Bulla was sleeping soundly, she left the room and closed the door quietly. She walked down the halls, noting that she wanted a different color of the walls in one or two sections of the hallways. She came up to the room that most of the sounds were coming from, seeing the broken window right away. She laughed slightly, not at the window, but at the poor man down on the ground. He had bumps and bruises all over him, and his hair partially dyed. Yamcha groaned as the boys were jumping up and down on his back, playing human trampoline.

"How did I get myself into this?" he moaned.

"That would be because you elected not to go to Kami's place to speak to Piccolo! You thought you could handle these two better than Tien could, that's why. And I can't handle both of them and the baby at the same time! I don't want to hear any complaints now, you knew what to expect!" Bulma said with a tight grin.

"Yeah. I suppose you're right, they have been worse," Yamcha dragged out at the end.

"Give it time and see if you say the same thing!"

"Hey, I see Mister Tien coming!" Goten pointed at the window.

"Finally," Yamcha said, getting up and brushing himself off. They all went downstairs and met Tien in the lobby.

"So?" Bulma asked right away.

"Same thing as last time, he doesn't have any news!" Tien said in a low tone.

"Why not? I thought he said he could contact King Kai and all that? And can't Dende teleport to Other World to find out as well?" Bulma screeched.

"It's not that. He said he contacted King Kai several times for updates and got none. He even confronted him about it and was told that King Kai wasn't allowed to tell him due to Kibito Kai being involved. He wouldn't even tell me if there were any others up there besides Videl, Broly and Borgos," Tien explained.

"How strange, why would the Kais keep us from that?" Bulma asked.

"Maybe it's not just them. Since this is all happening in a different dimension, maybe they have stricter rules about that stuff. If they have Kais over there, perhaps they aren't allowed to interfere despite our friends being there!" Yamcha said thoughtfully.

"That's a good point, and I lost contact with their signal when they left the edge of this galaxy. Vegeta said they were probably going to some point in the eastern cluster, but he didn't know exactly where. All we really know is that there is a dimensional rift there!" Bulma said.

"We could always get your dad's new model spaceship and go check it out!" Yamcha suggested.

"That's true," Bulma looked thoughtful.

"I think that's a bad idea. Vegeta said there were a lot of enemies over in that area of the universe, and we're undermanned here as it is. We can't leave the Earth unprotected!" Tien said sharply.

"Yeah you're right. I just have this weird feeling that something bad has happened to them, I just don't know what though!" Bulma said sadly.

"Cheer up, what's the worst that could happen?" Yamcha asked. Everyone gave him an eerie look as they all went back to their own activities.

-

Gohan slowly munched on the food provided to him. It had been about twenty hours since the incident with Verto. The Protoss had done a good job on getting the area prepped for a Zerg attack. They had all kinds of scouting teams, detection fields and photon cannons up for early warning. Most everyone was certain that the Zerg would not easily tunnel though the planet's surface. The ash layers would be easy, but not the lava basins. Planet Char's outer crust might have been rather thin, but whatever was there was very difficult to puncture. Just about everyone was in a foul mood after what had happened, and dealt with it in their own way. Goku and Bardock stuck to a far enough site to spar heavily, but close enough that they could come back in case of attack. Vegeta hadn't been seen for quite some time, but Gohan could sense he was nearby somewhere, watching out for the Zerg while having his own period of mourning. Tassadar and Zeratul remained locked in a chamber somewhere in the labyrinth, telling everyone that they were not to be disturbed unless there was an emergency. Artanis was the only other figure that was regularly seen other than the other soldiers. Gohan ate slowly and let everything soak into his mind. He blamed himself to an extent, but even he knew it wasn't truly his fault. The only thing he felt guilty about was that he just stood by and let it happen. Then again, no one was doing anything rash considering the state that Verto was in at the time.

Since they came back from incident, one Zerg brood had gone crazy and others seemed in a constant state of flux. He watched a display of their movements on a hologram provided to him, seeing very strange patterns. They had seen quite a build up in forces as they expected, but after the incident the Zerg movements changed. Most of it involved a large build up around where they believed the Overmind to be nested, circling around that point. Gohan watched it with boredom, trying to figure it out. After awhile he ignored it and just munched on his food. A few Protoss soldiers came and went, wisely leaving him alone in case of an outburst. Most of them hadn't been on Earth, but a lot of them had heard stories of crossing the Saiyans, and didn't want to be victims. Out of nowhere, Gohan noticed a sudden sharp change in the Zerg pattern. They started to flash in signal a bit, like they weren't being picked up very well. Then they simply vanished on the radar, one big blob of them, gone in the blink of an eye. It took Gohan a moment to realize this, before he tore off and about plowed over a few surprised Zealots in the process. He reached the command center in a few seconds, seeing that they were monitoring the same thing.

"Hey, did you see what happened?" Gohan asked the obvious.

"Yes we did, a large number of Zerg have left the planet surface and have gone into space, and we also detected a few large energy surges coming from there! One of them we believe is the Overmind lifting out of the ground, the others we are unsure about!" Artanis reported. The screen continued to show reduced numbers of Zerg, more leaving by the minute, before it showed sporadic Zerg activity at best.

"What the hell is going on, are they going to come in on us from space?" Gohan asked himself. He spread out his senses, forgetting that most of them were blocked inside the cave. He rushed outside, getting there in about a minute. He spotted Vegeta on the edge of the cliffs, who was looking upwards as well.

"Do you sense it boy? The Zerg are leaving!" Vegeta said directly.

"Yeah, but why? Are they just gonna come down on us in force?" Gohan asked, sensing the same.

"Doesn't feel like it, use your senses as far as they will reach and try to pinpoint their destination!" Vegeta ordered. Gohan scanned and scanned, feeling a general movement in space that was indeed away from the planet. He tried to sense if they were going back towards Earth, but felt they were moving in a different direction. He soon lost the feeling as they got farther away, but was confident they were not going back to Earth.

"Well boy?" Vegeta asked.

"Don't know where they're going, but it's the opposite direction of Earth for sure!" Gohan said meekly.

"Blast it, what are they up to?" Vegeta dared ask.

**Power levels:**

**Videl: 7,000,000; Kaioken X2: 14,000,000; X10: 70,000,000**

**Fasha: 70,000,000; SS2: 370,000,000**

**Dabura: 100,000,000; Full Power: 400,000,000**

**Next time on DBV: The Saiyans lose track of the Zerg, but the Protoss track them in the direction of their own home planet, Auir. A warning is sent to Auir, only to be answered by Aldaris, who orders Artanis to execute Zeratul and the Saiyans. With little to no hope of getting a ship from Auir, the team ponders what they will do. When Captain Raynor contacts them with good news that his ship is running, they receive word from a scouting team about a nearly dead Saiyan out in the wastelands of Char. Verto returns, next time on DBV!**


	40. Sighting

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 39: Sighting**

Vegeta and Gohan reentered the command center to see Artanis barking all kinds of orders out.

"Send out a warning on all channels directed towards Auir, specifically ask for High Executor Aldaris to respond!" he ordered, getting immediate respond.

"Aldaris, what do you want to talk to that creep for?" Gohan asked in a low tone.

Artanis glanced back at him, "I won't bother asking him for help, I know it probably isn't coming. However he and the rest of our people should know what's going to happen now! We've tracked the direction of the Zerg swarm, they are headed towards our home planet of Auir!"

"Where your entire race is located, isn't that right? Approximately how many Protoss live on your world?" Vegeta asked. Artanis looked puzzled for just a second before asking another Templar at what appeared to be a science station for archives.

"As of two months ago, about eight million total Protoss citizens on Auir and its colonies. Five million on the planet itself Praetor!" the officer stated as he read.

"Do you know about how many Zerg signals were picked up before we lost them?" Vegeta asked the officer directly this time.

"We tracked about one and a half million different Zerg signals, various sizes and shapes, including the Overmind," the officer said, punching up another log.

"Your people have superior numbers with stronger weaponry, they should put up a decent fight," Vegeta said, stepping away from the computer display.

Artanis gave him a hard stare, "What exactly do you mean by that? It wouldn't take eight hundred thousand Protoss soldiers backing our strongest fleets to take care of that amount of Zerg! A Zerg attack on Auir is fruitless!"

"Is it now? That sounds like something Aldaris would say," Vegeta said as a loud beeping sounded.

"We're receiving transmission from High Executor Aldaris on a subspace channel, patching it into viewer now!"

"Speak of the devil," Vegeta snorted slightly, standing off to the side, motioning for Gohan to do the same. He really didn't care if Aldaris noticed him and Gohan or not, but there was a possibility that Aldaris didn't know they were there yet, which could be used to their advantage should they cross him later.

Aldaris' head appeared on the screen, "Ah, Praetor Artanis, to what do I owe this communiqué?" Gohan glared at him hard, taking in his newer features. His previously green head dressing was replaced by what the Protoss must have considered a golden crown. His whole left arm was now shiny golden color, as well as most of his left side and chest area, Verto had done quite a number on him. Gohan couldn't see the rest because he was sitting at some sort of desk.

"High Executor, as you know we are stranded on Char. The Zerg Swarm has left Char en masse, they are headed straight towards Auir! We estimate three standard weeks until their arrival, perhaps less than that! We suggest that you mobilize the entire Protoss fleet to repel them!" Artanis said like he memorized it.

Aldaris chuckled slightly, "Yes Praetor, I received that information a short time ago from deep space sensors. However there is no cause for alarm. Their numbers are impressive, but we have a much larger force. We have much more advanced technology and stronger weapons. We also have a secret weapon in case the Zerg become a problem, its something we picked up when we were chasing them throughout the cosmos!" Aldaris said with a fat grin on his face.

"Secret weapons?" Artanis asked, glancing towards Gohan and Vegeta, who didn't answer but bore a scowl or two. He saw the far door open to reveal Goku and Bardock, beaten and battered from a training session. Gohan kept his finger to his lips when they asked who was speaking quietly.

"Why yes, my old friend. One is a captured warrior from another planet. He's a bit of a bloodthirsty animal if you ask me, but his people have great power and have proven very effective against the Zerg. We have contained his primal brain with a mind control unit. I would have liked him to cooperate without that, but his people are very aggressive, and we were forced to kill him on our way back. Luckily my scientists revived him, so he's simply a Protoss weapon to use as we see fit. Unfortunately we couldn't capture others like him, the Zerg interfered and took them instead. After this invasion is dealt with, we will see about getting a rescue ship out to you. Until then you should eradicate any Zerg on Char, and keep a lookout for these great warriors of destruction. Who knows how many of these Saiyans the Overmind was able to capture!" Aldaris warned. Gohan's glare grew darker as he was just itching to tear the screen apart the more Aldaris spoke.

"But High Executor, we believe that we have the force capable of knocking out the Overmind here on Char! We've encountered the Dark Templar!" Artanis argued. To Gohan, he definitely trying to snag a rescue ship earlier while keeping the Saiyans out of the discussion despite the fact that Aldaris had already brought them up.

"Under standing Protoss law, consorting with the fallen ones is heresy Artanis! However this can be forgiven. The Dark Templar's overrated abilities may have the power to take care of the Overmind, however I now possess greater powers than even they can fathom. The Overmind will not be a problem once all of its little swarms are taken care of by our combined might! Assuming the fallen one's haven't influenced your mind with their taint, you have new standing orders Praetor! You are to execute the Dark Templar and any types of Terrans you encounter on Char. Doing this will bring forgiveness and great rewards. I will speak to you after our victory! En Taro Adun!" Aldaris said with a sharp look. He demonstrated some of his power for the Praetor when he mentioned it, making and extinguishing a small energy ball. Artanis looked like his heart had been ripped out. Gohan took this moment to step in front of the screen, lighting up Aldaris' features.

"If you're so high and mighty, why don't you come do it yourself!" Gohan challenged right there. The shocked expression on Aldaris' face subsided, but a nervous tone stood in his voice pattern.

"You, so you have met up with them Artanis. I didn't think you were as foolish as Tassadar!" Aldaris grinned again.

"Your fight isn't with him, it's with me! I will make you pay for killing Videl!" Gohan said surprisingly calm, pointing at Aldaris.

"You are just as foolish, your powers are not a threat to me anymore boy! Artanis, this is your last chance to execute the greatest threat to the Protoss race, do it now!" Aldaris shouted now. Artanis didn't move, and a door opened once again. This time it was Tassadar coming in to observe the conversation.

"I'm sorry Aldaris, I cannot do that. They are the key to our salvation and the destruction of the Zerg once and for all. Why can't you see this?" Artanis asked, almost desperate.

"The question is why can't you see this, those bloodthirsty animals are agents for the Overmind. Working with them will surely damn your soul for all time. You will never be welcome on Auir again if you join the likes of them!" Aldaris warned. Artanis didn't answer right away, but made his decision quickly.

"I love Auir with all my heart, and I must make my own decision as to how it stays safe. I stand by them to the end Aldaris, I do not regret my decision!"

"Very well, former Praetor, you have made your choice and now you will have to live with it! Do not expect a warm welcome!" Aldaris shouted at the video feed, killing the connection with the push of a button.

"I am going to tear him to shreds," Bardock threatened aloud to the screen once the transmission had ended.

"Sorry grandpa, you won't get the chance," Gohan said in a low tone.

"So he still has Shugesh, or perhaps this is another clone?" Vegeta asked, glancing towards Tassadar.

"More than likely he did indeed kill him and then reanimate his body. We have the technology for creation of mind control devices but they had been outlawed for a long time. Obviously Aldaris doesn't care about that," Tassadar said in slight disgust.

"Well, since a lot of innocent people are going to be killed there, we need to figure out a way to get off this rock and get to your planet!" Gohan suggested. Artanis looked like he was told that the sky was falling, all hope had faded from his body.

"Aldaris has more than likely kept all ships from departing now, especially with the Zerg coming. The chances of getting a friendly ship here are remote at best!" Tassadar stated as a fact.

"Then how are we going to get out of here, unless… Kakarot, can you sense where the Zerg are going?" Vegeta asked.

Goku shook his head, "We can barely sense the Zerg on this planet, never mind through outer space. I would need a close enough ki signal to track and by the sound of it, this planet Auir is a good ways away. I won't be able to get us there with Instant Transmission without a clear-cut signal. I thought about trying to contact King Kai, but we're in a different dimension. I haven't been able to contact him since we left our own. Sorry," Goku said.

"What about you, boy?" Vegeta asked Gohan.

"Same thing Vegeta. I can sense a lot around here, but once it's too far or too faint I can't feel it. I can't even feel the Zerg now and they just left! I could sense the Overmind or Broly if they were close enough, but teleporting there wouldn't do much good!" Gohan explained with an apologetic look. Vegeta shook it off, out of ideas for the time being.

"Can't you guys build a ship or something?" Bardock dared to ask.

"We have the designs for one, but we do not have the raw materials for a suitable one. Most Protoss ships are made on Auir and warped in to wherever they are needed. However with the lockdown Aldaris will put in place, establishing a warp rift would be impossible just like it was on Earth. He won't allow a warp link to be established from Auir, and he will probably spread propaganda against us now. This is not looking good," Tassadar explained.

"And our ships were destroyed by the boy during a Zerg attack, so we're all stuck here for the time being," Zeratul said from thin air, appearing in the middle of the room next to Tassadar. Another loud beeping sounded from the communication station.

"What is it, another threat or order from Aldaris?" Artanis grunted slightly.

"No Praetor, it's from Captain Raynor!" the Templar said in surprise.

"Captain who?" all Saiyans asked at once.

"Put it through, Captain Raynor is a Terran soldier stranded here as well. We left him with others of his kind, but we were to believe they didn't have any sort of communication array," Artanis briefly explained. Raynor's mostly baldhead appeared on the video feed, which showed him asking several technicians if it was working.

"Is this damn thing on? Oh, hey! Artanis, buddy, you guys get the good news yet?" Raynor asked.

"Good news?" Artanis asked, standing now.

"Yeah, we detected the Overmind and most of the Zerg leave the planet, that is good news!" Raynor said with a slight smile.

"Be that as it may, we are stranded here as well as you are. Without a workable ship and our own people abandoning us, we are to fend by ourselves for the current time," Artanis drooped his head a bit.

"Hey now, don't get down in the dumps! I told you I would pay you guys back for helping me before. Well...I got all these cowboys to fix up my ship, the Hyperion. It'll be ready to go in a few days!" Raynor boasted proudly.

"You are serious? Your ship was on the brink of falling apart when we found you, it is repaired already?" Artanis asked in shock.

"Hey, give us humans a little credit, we can do a lot when we're determined! Besides, most of these boys can't go home thanks to our Dominion friend Duke, better than staying around this dirtball!" Raynor said slyly. Another loud beeping sounded, but it was coming from the transmission feed. Raynor put a finger up to his ear, where a small headset was attached.

"Just a second Artanis, my scouting team is checking in, Raynor here! You found what? What the hell is a small kid doing out in the middle of nowhere, was he part of your group? He's alive? Well of course trooper, revive him if you can, I need to know how he got there and which Dominion group left him behind. He has a what? A tail?" Raynor asked in surprise. Vegeta and the others perked up to this right away, smiling slightly to one another.

"He survived, how?" Bardock asked.

"It doesn't matter, if the boy is alive it is a most fortunate thing," Vegeta said with pride.

"Yeah, but what if he's still being manipulated?" Gohan asked, not quite as pleased as the others.

"What do you mean Gohan?" Goku asked.

"Well, Kerrigan said there were a lot of aggressive hormones that were released into his blood to make him a little crazier, what if those are still there. Reviving him with some sort of stimulant might be bad!" Gohan said with a knowing frown.

"He has Zerg-like tissue cells on the tail? Oh, I know who that is. Use a much stronger dosage, that kid is tough as nails!" Raynor suggested into his headset.

"No, don't revive him! Keep him under!" Gohan stepped out and shouted at the screen, getting a strange look from Raynor.

"Who are you, you look like that kid but older. You his brother or something? What trooper? He's up, good. What, what's wrong? Ah, oh!" Raynor suddenly winced like his ear had been a few inches from a gun when it goes off.

He put his finger back up to it in surprise, "Trooper? Trooper!" Raynor called into it, not getting an answer.

"Captain, can you transmit the co-ordinates of where your scout team was?" Gohan asked directly.

"Yeah, just a sec and I'll get the location. It was around where a Zerg brood had gone crazy and virtually killed itself off. I sent a team to check it out and take care of any remaining Zerg! I'm about to dispatch another to find out what happened!" Raynor said, a little more serious now.

"No, don't send out any more teams, they'll only get killed. We'll handle this!" Gohan ordered, leaving the command room right away. The other Saiyans followed quickly.

"You want to tell me what's going on Artanis? Who exactly are they?" Raynor asked as the door closed.

"Long story, but I will fill you in as best I can!" Artanis said, sitting back down.

-

"Damned humans just had to run across him first, at least he's alive," Vegeta remarked as the four Saiyans were flying over the ash filled lands.

"Better that he's alive and still here rather than with the Overmind though right?" Goku asked.

"Infernal creature, that damned thing is going to learn not to mess with a Saiyan eventually!" Vegeta growled. They crossed over into former Zerg territory without any trouble. They spotted a few Zerg here and there, but no organization with them. Some Zerg ran around alone, some in packs. Most of them were fighting with each other, even eating their own kind. Gohan eventually spotted a few human bodies laid out on the ground, no sign of any movement though. They landed and found the dead humans and what they had used to wake Verto. All of the humans bore Marine armored suits except for one, who had a medical bag next to his lifeless body. The marine's suits had been pierced pretty harshly by a large enough weapon, or in this case, a punch or ki blast.

"This looks bad, there's a pretty large and empty container in here. Looks like the stuff they use to revive large animals and dinosaurs back on Earth. I'll bet they used almost all of this to wake him up!" Gohan said, looking through a discarded medical bag.

"He's a little motor now, but I can't sense his energy though," Bardock said, looking around.

"That tells us that either he's keeping it down on purpose, it's extremely low, or that he still isn't thinking straight, if at all. I highly doubt that he's recovered enough physically and mentally to be suppressing it, so Gohan must be correct. We're going to have to wait until he calms down or until we can find him and beat that hyper body of his up. He shouldn't be able to put up much of a fight right now," Vegeta commented, looking around himself.

A sudden aroma hit Gohan's nostrils, gaining his attention, "Hey, you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Bardock asked.

Goku picked it up quickly, "Ugh, what is that?" he said, holding his nose.

"Smells disgusting," Vegeta said, clinching his teeth slightly.

"Smells like freshly dead Zerg. But that smell doesn't appear unless we fry them with really low power energy attacks. Not even to disintegrate I mean, just enough to take off a limb or something! It doesn't take but an minute or two for a Zerg body to emit that unless it was vaporized!" Bardock noted, seeing Gohan's face change a bit.

"I still can't sense anything, but maybe if we follow that smell we can find Verto!" Gohan suggested.

"You might as well search for an end to Kakarot's stomach! There are Zerg killing each other all over the place, that smell could be coming from anywhere!" Vegeta barked at him.

"Yes, but Verto was here, and we are pretty close to that Hive cluster we found him at yesterday! And surely we would at least partially sense him if he were to be flying around right? So he must be moving on land," Gohan pointed out with a single finger in the air.

"True, but if he is as charged up as we think he might be, who knows how fast he is moving now even without using energy. I think it may be best to go back to the Protoss base and monitor what happens to the Zerg. If he's killing them in any sort of pattern, we can pick it up! Right now we can't sense the Zerg all too well with them scattered about as it is. Plus if we give him some time, all that crap in his system may wear off. Remember guys, he just killed his mate, he isn't going to be thinking straight for a while," Bardock suggested.

"I agree, going on scent isn't going to get us anywhere but lost on this world, let's get going!" Vegeta ordered, taking to the air along with Bardock. Gohan looked saddened by this, Goku threw an arm around his shoulder.

"Don't worry son, we'll find him!"

"I hope so Dad!" he said as they followed.

**A/N: "en masse" sounds just like it reads, In Mass. Another way of saying "all together" for you non-literate types out there (its okay, we've all been there).**


	41. Reunion

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 40: Reunion**

Another day passed by slowly for Gohan. Even after the others told him he should go to bed and rest, he wouldn't. Gohan sat in the same seat in the mess hall, eating slowly and watching the radar. He saw occasional spots of Zerg activity move about and also vanish. But he couldn't be sure of what may have killed them, Verto, or themselves. If they had vanished in a certain pattern or line, he would have known, but they didn't. He sat there and nodded off a few times. He jolted awake whenever a Protoss warrior would stray into the room, only to see that barely anything had changed on the radar display. He finally fell into a deeper sleep with his head on the table and stayed that way for awhile. He woke up a few hours later, seeing that the display had been turned off at some point.

"You really should get to your resting quarters, you can't afford to run yourself into the ground you know," Tassadar said at a table across from him. He was eating a small portion of what the Protoss considered a meal, mostly meat though.

Gohan stretched but didn't leave, "Sorry, I just can't abandon my friend like that. I didn't do anything to stop him before, I can't make that mistake again!"

"Don't worry Gohan, I'm sure we're going to pick him up again at some point. In the meantime, you should rest yourself!" Tassadar suggested.

Gohan nodded slightly, but had another question, "What have you been doing with that Zeratul guy? We haven't seen much of you two."

"Oh, that. Well, even the most patient beings can have their fill of Prince Vegeta as you must know," Tassadar said, causing them both to laugh a bit.

"That aside, Zeratul has been teaching me the ways of the Dark Templar. Their arts, beliefs and formidable powers, it has been quite enlightening! A very different way of using our Psionic Templar abilities, but also more freedom involved. We needed some privacy to do this. That is why we have been scarce as of late!" Tassadar explained.

"Oh, hey can he teach me anything? I'm kind of new at this Psi and mixed energy thing myself," Gohan said.

"I did speak to him about that, but he declined teaching you anything about their ways," Tassadar said strictly.

"I understand, against the rules right?" Gohan asked.

"No, actually it is not against any of the Dark Templar teachings. He said he didn't have anything that you could learn and use effectively. He said it would be a waste of time and energy for you to try to learn from him or any other Protoss. He said that should Verto be turned back to normal that he would be a much better choice to learn Templar abilities, both light and dark," Tassadar said, confused a bit.

Gohan looked down for a minute, but then back up, "I think I know why. Verto's energy balance, he could probably handle more techniques that are Psi or otherwise in nature. I mean he could hold his Super Mystic form a lot better than I could!"

"Perhaps. I must go, there is much more for me to learn!" Tassadar said, waving slightly. Gohan got up himself, heading for bed. When he reached the room he and his father shared, he simply collapsed onto the bed, despite a very loud snore coming from Goku.

**Interlude: Verto**

I wasn't sure where I was. I thought I was asleep and perhaps dead after what happened with Fasha. It was very fresh in my mind that my other self had killed her. I had powered up high enough to kill myself just to get rid of him. I knew I was successful, and I no longer felt the Overmind watching me. I had pushed him right out of my body with my Kaio-ken burst, and the link to big ugly had gone with him. I was free, but yet somehow alive. I didn't know how I was alive, I knew I couldn't withstand that kind of power flowing through me at once. I glanced over myself, seeing that most, if not all of the Zerg cells had vanished. I had found myself walking towards some sort of energy source. I wasn't sure what it was, nor where it was, but it felt warm and familiar. All I knew was that it was ahead of me and I had to get there, like it was calling out to me. I had woken up walking towards it, and had been in the process of killing a Zergling that had been in my way. I let it go when I realized what I was doing, watching it run towards this energy source as well. My fingers had both Zerg blood and what appeared to be human blood on them. I didn't have any clue as to how that had happened, nor did I want to know. My body felt heavy and was hard to move. I wanted to just drop somewhere and hope I died quickly, but whatever was calling me seemed to supply me with enough energy to keep going. I did fall down once, but was able to pick myself up when I heard a voice in my head.

"_You mustn't die yet! You have to stop him!"_ I wasn't sure what the source was, my head and my whole body ached so much that I couldn't focus at all. It was repeated a few times as I tried to just keel over right where I was. Its message reminded me of what the Overmind had planned with regards to its continued destruction of the universe and other dimensions. I picked myself up and continued to follow the energy signature I was sensing ahead of me, feeling that it might be able to help me, whatever it was. I could only hope that it could, I didn't want what I remembered to actually happen. A lot of Zerg had passed by me in that time, none ever stopping to even notice me, but were also heading the direction I was. I came upon the purple creep I had come to know so well, the stench of it rotted my insides. The energy surge grew stronger and seemed to compel me forward.

After passing countless amounts of small and large Zerg, all of which ignored me, I came upon what looked to be a new Hive cluster. It's colors, along with the stray Zerg, were shifting to a purple color, the color of the brood I had been associated with. I entered the Hive uninhibited, but the Zerg had ignored me this far so it wasn't a surprise. I managed to find the ramp that led into the depths of it, passing many minions that were starting to gather resources and deliver them to the appropriate places. New Zerg were being spawned there as well, some of them looked like they were under a different master. I reached the bottom, seeing no minions of any kind. I approached what should have been a Cerebrate's chamber, and entered. Instead of a large and gooey beast in the room, some sort of machine was running. I walked up to it and examined it. It was some sort of generator by my guess, about four feet in height and just a little taller than I was. It's top was rotating and that rotation was generating the energy field I was sensing. It felt a lot like Psi, but not quite like my own energy. It felt similar to what most of the Protoss used for weapons, a pure but non-concentrated form of Psi that was artificial in nature.

"You're right, it is Psi," a voice said. I glanced around, seeing a figure emerge from the other side of the room.

"Who's there?" I asked.

"Short memory eh? I'm not surprised, most in your condition would have just died on the spot, but you have quite a will to live, truly remarkable!" a women's voice said. The blue light from the machine revealed her scaly face.

"Kerrigan? But what is this? What is going on?" I asked.

"This is a Psi emitter, I think I told you about these before. They are used to lure stray Zerg to other places, it's also how I called you here. The Overmind has left Char with most of the Swarm with it. I have lured the stray and broken Zerg here to my control and started my own Brood again. The Overmind has left because of you!" she said softly. My mind had started to clear of emotional pain once I had laid eyes on her, and I got into the subject pretty quickly.

"Yeah, I know of its plans for domination. When I took back my body, I sensed the link. Since it failed to beat my friends, it's going for Aldaris and the rest of the Protoss now!"

"Somewhat correct, however its plans may have changed now that you Saiyans are in the mix. Originally he had planned on trying to create a new breed of Zerg spliced with Protoss genes. Those types of creatures would be capable of impressive destructive power. However I think he may try to combine the DNA of a Saiyan and a Protoss now, but it would have to be with a Protoss that has discovered its true power, like Aldaris has. Aldaris has surely learned by now that he cannot use mixed energy like you can, and thus has converted most of his ability to pure Psi and strengthened it I imagine. I would think that his Psionic power would be on the level of a Super Saiyan, one maybe even as powerful as Broly is now. Imagine if you will, those two powers brought together much like your Super Mystic powers, get the picture now? There would probably be a splice of Zerg thrown in there for a stability factor, as well as control. To stop the Overmind, you're going to have to go to Auir and kill Aldaris before the Overmind is able to accomplish this! Then you will have to deal with the Overmind and Broly directly, but I feel you can do this. Do you understand?" Kerrigan asked directly. My mind felt sharp and focused again, she had been doing something to it to heal its scars, but my energies were still low as expected.

"Yeah, I need to heal and train though. My evil self didn't stand up to Broly, so I probably have no chance right now, and I need a way to get there, can you help me?" I asked.

"No, I cannot, I was made to stay here and I cannot openly defy him. He would crush my free will and strand you in space if we even tried. However your friends are still here, and they will be leaving for Auir soon," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, but after what I did...How can they even trust me?" I said in sadness.

"Cheer up, I told them what happened, though I think Gohan figured it out with Zeratul's help. They know that your evil self committed those murders, what you must do now is atone for them. Go and find your friends! Train hard and make the Overmind pay for what he has done to your life and those you care about!" Kerrigan said with inspiration. I nodded and left promptly, feeling that I had enough energy to at least fly. I wasn't sure what direction I had to go to find Gohan and the others. But I figured if I just guessed at it and kept my energy level as high as possible, I would find them.

-

Gohan's head snapped up when Goku shook him awake. He had been having a bad dream about Videl getting killed once again, a painful reminder as of late.

"Gohan, wake up son, something has happened!" Goku whispered. Gohan managed to shake off the effects of his nightmare in order to focus on what was going on. Goku seemed surprised to say the least, but said nothing as he almost drug Gohan to the command center. Gohan was still pulling his armor on when they got there. Vegeta and Bardock were already there, watching a radar display on the video screen.

"What's up guys?" Gohan asked, rubbing his eyes.

"That is a good question Gohan. The remaining Zerg are gathering from the looks of it, all of them are going to this point here! And there is some sort of Psionic energy signal coming from there as well. Whatever it is, it's calling the Zerg to it and then controlling them from there!" Tassadar pointed out, showing a red arrow over the center of the growing Zerg mass.

"What could it be, perhaps a remnant Cerebrate that the Overmind left behind to take control of the planet?" Zeratul asked, not sure himself.

"Maybe, but that should have shown up before. This has gradually occurred within the last eight hours. And most of these Zerg were of the brood that was shattered by young Verto, maybe that has something to do with it!" Artanis suggested. The radar suddenly came alive with one green blip separating from the Zerg area and coming towards them, but not quite in line with their base. It moved like it was going to just miss seeing their photon cannons.

"We are reading a large energy surge from that object moving our way, at its current speed it will be in cannon range in about twenty minutes!" a Templar announced from the scanning station.

"Wait a sec, I can sense that energy. It's Verto!" Gohan said.

"I can also, he feels normal, and the way he's coming I think he wants us to know that he's in trouble. His energy is dropping fast though, we should go meet him now!" Goku suggested.

"Can you teleport us out of this cave Kakarot?" Vegeta asked.

"Not quite, but once were outside I think I can go right to him!"

"Let's do it then!"

-

I was gasping for breath as I started to fall to the ground. I had enough energy to fly slowly just fine, but I was afraid I might get shot down if they didn't know I was coming. So I flew as fast and as hard as possible at the time. It didn't help that I didn't know where to go, but I felt that anyone with energy sensing skills would know I was out there. I had to descend to the ground before I dropped since I was still very tired from using all my energy the day before. Actually, I was starting to think it had been more than one day, but I wasn't sure, Kerrigan never said. I landed and sat with my legs straight out, getting my wind back. I was about to try to go further when I suddenly felt a gust of wind right next to me. I got up defensively, but turned around to see four familiar figures.

"Verto! It's us!" Gohan said first, holding his hands up.

I nodded, "Yeah, I know, it's been awhile!"

"Good, you're back to your normal self. Looks like most of that Zerg crap is out of your system as well!" Vegeta pointed out.

"Not quite all of it, and some of it will be with me forever now," I said with a sly smile.

"What do you mean?" he barked back.

"Guess Kerrigan didn't tell you, I had to fuse with a Cerebrate to get my body back, but I actually don't sense much of it there anymore. Just a slight power boost and a bit of a mental boost, that's about it!" I said, giving my best Goku imitation with the Son grin. I blinked sharply when I realized that I was in a surprising good mood considering the situation, and that reminded me of the tasks at hand.

"She did mention that actually, I thought it was all nonsense. Let's get back then, we have much to discuss!" Vegeta ordered.

"Yeah, there's a lot I need to tell you guys. I know what the Overmind has planned!" I said, a bit more serious now.

"What?!" Vegeta asked in surprise.

I sat back down, "Well it's a bit complicated, but I'll do my best. Basically he's always wanted to create the greatest army ever and conquer the universe. Well, from what I sensed, it goes a little deeper than that. Whoever created the Overmind and the earliest Zerg, also created the Protoss, that's why they are so linked in wars. The Overmind wanted to continue that experiment by combining Zerg and Protoss genes together, supposedly those kinds of creatures would be capable of some impressive power. Then he found us, the Saiyans. More specifically he found Gohan and me, we possess more impressive power than a Zerg-Protoss hybrid would have had I guess," I explained, pausing for everyone to catch up. Goku had taken a seat and looked mildly interested, Vegeta and Bardock just grunted while Gohan listened intently.

"Now he wants to create a Zerg, Saiyan and Protoss hybrid that is capable of an even greater amount of power. He was going for Gohan and me at first. He wants to enslave all of us Saiyans and needed us out of his way or on his side first. Once that was done, he could get to the rest of us easier, mostly as bait. If he won, he would have had his Super Saiyan army, then it's easier to take out the Protoss. He kind of screwed up the other day, he's afraid of my deepest power. Kerrigan seemed to think that perhaps he will be gunning for Aldaris now, she said that his pure Psi power is maybe on the level of that infested clone of Broly, and that he's the only Protoss who can truly channel their Psi. We have to get to Aldaris before the Overmind does!" I stated.

"What, to save him from those little cretins? He deserves everything he gets!" Vegeta grumbled.

"No, I mean so he can't mess around with the idea of making a hybrid between say Broly and Aldaris with a balance of power. I don't know about other races, but with an even balance my power doubles when I use it as one. We don't want to deal with another Majin Buu do we? That's what it may seem like if the Overmind nabs him before we get there! Only its gonna be worse, the Overmind doesn't just aim to take over this universe! It wants to take all realities, every dimension, every world, we can't let that happen guys!" I urged, getting Vegeta's attention now.

"What about you boy? If this thing is so scared of you, then we should go to Auir right away and take it out!" he suggested.

I shook my head, "I need training first, I still don't completely understand my power. I didn't expect to live through that little outburst the other day, and I only did it so my power wouldn't be used for evil anymore. I really didn't want to live anymore without Fasha around," I said with a slight tear in my eye.

"Don't think that way boy. You didn't know this, but we planned on breaking it up. You and she know it wasn't meant to be, and so does everyone else. Now it's going to tear you apart until we bring her back to life, but you're going to have to tough it out for now," Vegeta said strictly. That was going to be hard, I felt horrible and it still hadn't sunk in yet.

"When, when she and Tora died, I just didn't care anymore. I figured that if I died then everything would be okay again, and then I would be with her. I couldn't even do that right!" I shouted, pounding the ground in mid-sob.

"Hey, it's okay, it wasn't really your fault! Remember it wasn't you that did it. If you're going to blame anyone, blame Aldaris, the Overmind and the Zerg! Let that be your focus!" Goku said, putting a comforting arm around my shoulder.

"Thanks, I'll try," I nodded slightly as he got back to his feet.

"Let's get back to the cave. You need to recover if you're going to get any sort of training done!" Gohan said. I didn't dare argue. I don't even think I could, because I felt like passing out right there on the jagged terrain.

**A/N: Good Verto is back, not ready for action yet though. What sort of training must he go through, I'm sure a lot of you have been wondering how I was going to put that in. What sort of deadly techniques is he going to learn? You may find out, next time!**


	42. Ways of the Templar

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 41: Ways of the Templar**

Another day passed quickly for me, mostly because I slept through it all. Gohan and a Protoss attendant had shown me to a room in the cave that featured some sort of IV like device. Supposedly it was just like a Saiyan healing tank, only there was no sitting down in a vat of water to go with it. It did involve a bit of a needle to get it in, something Goku looked sick about. It was funny to think about sometimes. We Saiyans could take punches that would blow mountains apart, yet a little needle works our nerves so much. Once it was in, the fluid slowly ran through me, making me feel warm and comfortable. Then I was out of it for a long time. When I woke up, the effect was the same as a healing tank or a senzu bean. I felt great and totally ready for training. To be honest I hadn't felt that good for a long time, minus the time spent inside my own head of course. After crawling out of the bed and carefully removing the IV, I noticed a blue jumpsuit laid out for me, along with gloves and boots. _Finally some clothes._

Granted I had been clothed enough to be considered decent for the time I was with the Zerg, but that tiny pair of shorts was more than full of holes. My stomach growled like no tomorrow when I unplugged myself, and frankly it had been forever since it had to digest anything. I dressed and entered the hallways of the Protoss cave. The walls were basically hollowed out rock, though they had been tiled and painted blue. I realized that I wasn't completely sure where I was supposed to go now, but I found a few signals not far ahead. I reached into my Psi energy so I could sense the Protoss as well, finding a small group of them ahead and to the left a bit. When I reached them, they were all in some sort of mess hall, eating and telling stories for the most part. All of this activity ceased once I entered the room, getting many stares instead. I really couldn't tell if they were stares or glares, but with the events as of late, the latter wouldn't have surprised me at all. I slowly glanced around as easily thirty or more Protoss warriors were giving me the eye, most of them Zealots. No one said or did anything, but it was certainly unnerving to say the least. I slowly let the glaring contest end as I walked across the room, looking for whatever they called food. There was some sort of bar with a Protoss chef glaring at me from the back as I got closer.

"How can I assist you?" he asked in a gruff voice.

"Some food please," I said quickly, trying not to look him in the face. A tray appeared a second later, covered with an assortment of meats that smelled odd but good. I had sampled some of the Protoss culture before, and they mostly ate with a meat filled diet. To Saiyans, meat was like chocolate sometimes, we just couldn't get enough of it. I took the tray and sat at the end of the emptiest table I could find, the one with only two Zealots sitting there. I inhaled the food like a last meal, as I hadn't had real food in I don't know how long. All the while I continued getting dark stares and even heard a few whispers traveling through the air. I went back for more servings and got them without a problem, but it still felt creepy eating with a room full of warriors that are not that fond of you. It felt like all that was holding them back was fear, of me and my power. I frowned slightly, standing for a moment and snapping my fingers to make sure they had my attention.

"For what its worth, I'm sorry," I said quickly, sitting back down and eating. It didn't seem like my apology was accepted, but I had to get it out of me.

-

As I had polished off what had to have been my twentieth helping, Tassadar and Vegeta walked in.

"About time you rejoined the land of the living boy, I thought I was going to have to drag you out myself!" Vegeta smirked slightly.

"How long was I asleep for?" I asked, wiping my mouth a bit.

"About forty-two hours. In your condition though, its not surprising," Tassadar said.

"Forty-two hours?!" I managed to say.

"It's the healing fluid we use, it puts the injured into a very deep sleep when healing their bodies. Seems to have an adverse affect on non-Protoss. Where my people recover and awake very quickly, any other race tends to be under its effects for quite a long time compared to a normal rest cycle," Tassadar explained.

"How nice, a really slow healing tank," I said with a glowering look.

"Whatever the case boy, its time to get back to your training. You've had way too much time off," Vegeta said, arms crossed.

"I just got healed, I don't want to be beaten into jelly again so soon!" I said, backing off with my hands up.

"Not that kind of training brat, Tassadar has something else in mind. It's not your usual routine, then again nothing has been lately. But what he has to teach you is necessary to develop your powers a little faster. I'd much rather you do it the regular way, but he assures me that this will help you master your powers even faster. We shall see about that, go with him," Vegeta ordered before walking off. I got up as Tassadar began to leave the room, noting that the other Protoss had still not taken their eyes off me yet.

"Don't mind them young one, they simply don't trust outsiders very quickly," Tassadar said without turning around.

"Yeah and the fact that I blew up about half of their friends, that doesn't really help in developing any sort of friendship," I shrugged a bit before following him.

I followed somewhat close to the elder Templar as he led me through a long string of twists and turns in the cave. Some of it felt familiar from when my evil self had been here, but I really hadn't paid much attention to direction when I was reviewing his memories. Only one area in general really felt familiar and that was a long and dark hallway. Tassadar finally stopped at a large metal door.

He turned and looked down to me, "Zeratul awaits you inside!"

"I thought you were training me?" I asked.

"Not technically, I am assisting in your learning curve, but there is much I must learn as well. Great Zeratul wishes to see you alone for the time being," Tassadar said, opening the door. Inside lay a dark and pitch black room, not one that looked all that inviting. I stepped inside and scanned around, picking up nothing but air. The door behind me shut as soon as I was in, leaving nothing but darkness. I considered lighting a ki ball so I could see, but I felt that this might be a test of some sort. A slow and calm gust of wind came by the back of my neck, and instantly it felt like there was someone behind me.

"You came for guidance?" a sudden voice asked from right next to my ear, scaring me a bit. It sounded old and wise, but dark and dangerous at the same time.

"Yeah, that's right. Are you Zeratul?" I asked. I had somewhat forgotten what the old Dark Templar looked like from my evil self's memory, but I did recall some of his abilities. Sneaking around unnoticed was certainly one of his best traits.

"I only teach those who would use their power for justice, not to power hungry vermin. If you will not use your abilities for a just cause, then I suggest you leave this chamber now. You would only be a waste of my time!"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do that," I said calmly.

"How can you be so certain, when the evil within you has consumed you before?" he asked.

"That evil is gone for good. And it wasn't me that was consumed with taint, it was a power hungry fool that would only cause harm to others and eventually his own destruction," I said, surprised that such a statement could come from my mouth. I was seriously impressed with how fast I thought that kind of answer up. It was the truth no doubt, but with words like that I could have been mistaken for a hermit.

"So you say, however those statements can easily be lies. To know they are true is to know yourself, know your opposition, and to have no fear of them!" he said, his voice rising. I sensed some sort of mixed energy signal now, it slowly became unraveled and seemed to be focusing into something.

"I don't fear myself anymore, and I'm not afraid of anyone who is my enemy," I said carefully.

"And yet, I sense much fear in you!" he said. I felt the energy spike and come towards me very quickly. I phased out and moved to the middle of the room, turning around and seeing a dim but solid green wrist sword. I thought it was a Psi blade at first, but it was a bit longer in length, and I sensed both ki and Psi fused within it. I could barely see the old Templar's head behind the blade, but I managed to see a strange circlet like decoration at the top. It was one that I did recall Zeratul to be wearing, so I could safely assume that this was the crafty old master. I allowed some more power to slip into me, not powering up, but keeping ready.

"I sense that your fear drives your aggressive wiles. Your enemies make you suffer and in turn they suffer because of your retaliation. You fear yourself because you have the power to destroy entire planets at any moment, and you are hesitant to act because of that. Your delays costs countless innocent lives that are sacrificed just so you will eventually stand up to it. Then you fear getting yourself destroyed in a battle and become unable to do what is right! Saiyans possess a natural fear that they will lose the next battle that they are in, and thus make themselves stronger through training. Your race's greatest fear is maintaining their pride, and that overlaps with the first fear of a Saiyan, making them fight with little belief that they may be destroyed at any time. Their fear of losing pride and honor drives them to battle. Every being that has gained power also has fear of losing it. Your greatest enemy is your fear, and I sense that it is strong in you!" he said, charging towards me. I hovered off the ground a bit, gathering Psi into my hand. I extended it outwards and created my bright blue Psi sword, just in time to block the sword slash coming in. I felt that he was right about my fear, it was in a way, my greatest flaw. _But then again, everyone's potential greatest flaw is fear, every living being possesses it, that makes me no different._

"Don't fault me for trying to do what is right and hesitating with acting. Yes, I was always afraid for others that couldn't defend themselves, and for their lives when I was hesitant to confront the threat to them. Many times that could cost lives because of my delay. Rather or not I avenged them, they still died. I do have power to destroy planets and solar systems at any time, and that does create hesitation because I'm afraid to unleash it to defeat an evil one. You are right about that," I said as he started to attack again. He was definitely a sword master, the only thing that blocked his slashed and quick cuts was my natural speed. We battled across the chamber, an occasional spark went off when our swords collided, lighting up the room a little more.

"You say you know your fear, your darkness. But how can you be sure, evil and fear appears in countless phases and layers of disguise! Light is created, good is always flowing somewhere. Love and happiness constantly reproduce themselves, and yet it this compassion that can sometimes the greatest enemy of the light. Darkness is not to be destroyed, only used. Love creates fear, and fear and anger add to darkness. It is light that makes darkness stronger by default. Every enemy you have fought with fear and anger makes you more susceptible to the grasp of darkness. Fear affects choice, and choice is the medium to all. Every moment, you have a choice that you make, whether you breathe or not. Whether you walk or run. You either eat or starve, every direct choice has a good and evil side to it! The only true solution to a problem is not taking a side and not letting your emotions get involved. How can you make the correct choice with fear of the wrong decision running through you?" Zeratul asked, stopping for me to answer. _I know this answer. I feel I've done this before, or something like it,_ I thought as his words went through my mind.

"Everyone has fear. Fear can be the greatest enemy if you let it, but it can also be an ally if used correctly. My own fear to lose the lives of loved and unprotected people also gives me the power to prevent it from happening. Every choice I conceivably make leads to fear no matter what I decide is best. Fear exists in everything, and as you say, it is impossible to be rid of it. Compassion may lead to fear at times, but it is also the answer to it. As far as being afraid to lose my power to protect people, I do just a bit. But if that comes between me and doing what I believe is right, then I will lose it. I would gladly give it up if it meant saving someone I love. Controlling my compassion and fear keeps evil from controlling me. Compassion, choice and fear coincide, but being able to see past a choice is what determines right from wrong and good from evil. I can see past my fear, and that allows me to defeat powerful enemies," I said carefully, feeling sure I was correct. Zeratul paused for a moment, staring directly into my eyes. I returned the look, until he suddenly clapped his hands twice. Lights above us came alive, giving the room a break from all of the darkness.

Zeratul then stepped back and bowed his head slightly, "Very good Verto, that is correct. Fear is not something that can be done away with, only looked past. And compassion must exist for Good to exist. Every day love and hate clash, it is your choice on who will win. You have shown me you understand yourself and your objective to uphold justice. You are most impressive for a child! Your training will primarily consist of learning how to correctly channel your Psionic power, as it is not an energy that should be used in a way that you may be used to. You're already familiar with the fusion of the two energies with balance, so that will not be our focus for the time being. The techniques you learn from me are not necessarily the most impressive feats compared to what you're used to, however they can be just as effective in keeping peace wherever you are. You are indeed wise beyond your years, and I have confidence that you will be able to take what you learn from me and uphold the side of justice. Let's begin!" He wasn't the only one who was impressed, _Guess I can thank you, Cerebrate, I never thought I'd ever be considered wise._ There was no answer of course, but I was sure that wherever he was, he was smiling. Now the only question was what Zeratul was going to teach me.

-

"As you know, the power you possess is not to be taken lightly. It can be used for great good or great evil, it is certainly capable of either. What you learn from me is how to use it for the side of good, as nothing I teach you will ever be used for evil or unnecessary aggression!" Zeratul said as he sat across from me in the rounded out room.

"I understand," I said.

"You will eventually, the Psionic power that resides within you represents part of a key to an ancient power that only the Gods were allowed to possess. Your life energy, or ki as you refer to it, is an energy that is easily corruptible and easy to taint with evil. This being said, it is very easy to attain as pure emotions and thoughts do not affect being able to access it, it is open to all who wish to find it. Emotions do affect ki usage in the sides of right and wrong. I've noticed you Saiyans have deep compassion that seems to access more and more energy when led into a fearful battle. Spiritual energy, or Psi, has always been considered a higher and deeper power that is not so easily attained and even easier to corrupt. The Protoss have the ability to channel Psi energy, however many of them lack the mental quality and training to be able to handle it at all times. This is why they generally access it through the assistance of technology. Some of the higher Templars can work with it, but not on the level that you are capable of. Most Protoss understand that this power is meant for the use of good and justice, however they don't always use it so. While there are always some that are evil and corrupt that can access this power, it is because they are pure evil and not partially evil. Aldaris is a good example of this, his pure evil thoughts and emotions no longer harbor anything other than his own selfishness. His desire to be all-powerful transcends any clouded thoughts and becomes pure darkness. Purity of thought is the key to the deepest Psionic power, rather they are good or evil, and the intention must be pure. Almost anything can be accomplished with the combination of pure emotions and power. Quite often the most potent Psionic power that can be used is only a simple pure thought away, do you understand?" Zeratul asked. For most that would take some time to sink in, thankfully the thought processes had increased lately.

"Yeah I do," I said.

"Good, I have an exercise for you to begin with then, I want you to stand here and defend all attacks I make against you, but do not strike back. All of them to the best of your ability!" he ordered as he stood and walked to the far side of the room.

"Okay, I can do that," I said, confused slightly. I powered up slightly, ready to take whatever he wanted to throw at me. He held his hands out and charged what I sensed to be a ki ball. I was a bit surprised to see that he could do that, but he was unlike any Protoss I had met. He fired it right at me and I knocked it into the wall, leaving a decent burn mark. He fired a few more weak blasts before changing tactics and colors. The energy blasts turned green with mixed energy, and had a little more kick behind them now. I gathered my energy to defend myself with, just in case. Five mixed energy blasts came flying in now. I deflected the first two without a problem. The third went low and struck my knee, the other two came in at my waist. Other than a minor sting, they did nothing. It wasn't surprising though, there wasn't much power behind them. He brought out his sword and charged me again. I jumped as he came in fast, dodging quickly as his sword nearly took my head and limbs off at several points. I felt the very edge of it slice by my knee as I avoided the blade, cutting it very slightly. It was deep enough to register pain, I cringed slightly, picking up the pace at which I dodged his slashes.

He flipped backwards after ten more failed attempts and landed on the far side of the room again, stopping completely. He spread his arms out a little wider before bringing them to the front together much like the Final Flash. In his hands formed a tiny white blast, which I detected to be a small charge of Psi. I relaxed slightly as I prepared to knock it aside, it was even lower in power than his ki blasts had been, and they were nothing. He fired it without a sound, and I watched as it slowly floated towards me. It moved more than slow enough to just move aside. I did so, watching it stop and come back to me a little quicker. I swung my hand and wrist into it to knock it away, only to watch it strike right there and fizzle out on the surface of my skin. It felt like a tiny little electrical shock, much like when someone has a strong static charge built up and they touch you or a metal surface. It didn't really hurt, but it was rather odd, I hadn't even expected that kind of reaction. I turned back to him, a bit confused at why he suddenly used such a low power attack.

"Now, try to attack me!" he said, waving his hand like a taunt. I crouched down, ready to jump at him when suddenly my power came out without being summoned. All the power I had called out suddenly appeared all over me and started to burn and shock my body at random. I dropped to one knee and struggled to get it out of whatever had a hold of me. I powered up some by reaction, and the sensation increased, like my own power had turned against me from the inside. I saw streaks of white Psi lightning appear on the surface of my body, shocking me everywhere. I cringed and struggled more, getting a little frustrated and even angry pretty quickly. With those thoughts, the pain increased as my own power rose without my command, and struck against its owner without command. I screamed in pain a bit now, watching for any sign from Zeratul. _What the hell, powering up isn't getting rid of this, it's making it worse. If I power down though, it could kill me if it continues like this, man this is hard,_ I thought. Zeratul seemed to be waiting for something out of me, he stood in the corner, watching. _Right, no fear. I guess the only way is to try to power down._ I released the hold I had on my energy, letting it sink down into the depths once again. As I powered down, the pain all over me decreased. It finally let up enough for me to stand, though I chose to sit down quickly. The lightning streaking around me also gradually decreased in intensity, settling down into that pins and needles feeling you get when your foot falls asleep, only it remained on the surface of my skin. I looked at my hands before I looked at Zeratul.

"What the heck was that?" I asked.

"An ancient technique that repels evilness and aggression directly back to the owner when they misuse their own power," he explained.

"Must be handy, can it be countered?" I asked right away.

"Depends on the recipient, if they are knowledgeable enough to recognize its effects before they panic and hurt themselves. Also if the evil it is used on is too powerful or too evil, then it can be broken. However the act of breaking the Feedback technique can be a painful one when attempted, as you now know," Zeratul explained.

"So its like a big whiplash effect?" I asked.

"In simpler terms, yes. In the hands of the side of justice, it is a great asset!"

"Yeah I noticed, um, how do you reverse it?" I asked, holding up my hands.

"Reverse it?" he asked.

"I mean get rid of it, stop the attack, take it off the victim?" I asked.

"That my friend, is the second part of your lesson. To know how to use the Feedback technique is to receive it yourself, and master it's power inside of you!" he said with what had to be his version of a smile.

"You're kidding right?" I asked.

"Afraid not, inform me when you've mastered the technique, I have other things that require my attention right now!" he said, opening the door. I got back up, a little angry that he hadn't been more specific. The instant I did, the buzzing around my body became shocking, grounding me again until I calmed down.

"My apologies. I forgot to mention that it will remain inside of you and will restrict your power and movement until you remove it yourself, good luck!" _Oh great._


	43. The Feedback Technique

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 42: The Feedback Technique**

It took me quite a long time to figure out how to get the Feedback Wave out of my body. First I just sat there, frustrated and getting a shock or two every second for it. After I managed to calm down and clear my head, the pain went away just like before. _Okay, I have to get it out myself, but how if I can't power up? Hmmm, maybe the answer is in what he was saying earlier. It affects evil and aggressive thoughts, clearing my head of them so far has worked. I wonder if I could power up, but keep a clear focus, like meditation. It's sort of what Piccolo had me doing all the time anyway, so in theory it should work._

I sat cross-legged while trying to place myself into a black void of nothing, which was the simplest way. Upon getting my full bearings, I realized that the lights were still on, and they were a bit distracting. Remembering what Zeratul had done, I clapped twice, causing the room to go dark instantly. Refocusing, I began to pull up ki energy as I fell into a focused state, trying my hardest not to feel any emotion. No change in activity, nor was there pain or shocking sensations. I put a little more effort into it, carefully keeping focused on a dark black void where nothing existed. Again no change, and I barely even remembered that it was still there except the fact that my skin was still a bit tingly. I powered all the way up to my maximum without a problem. The painful shock never came, but I did feel it in there, spinning in place. I accessed my Psi energy next, bringing all of it out and keeping extra clear thoughts in mind as I did. As I did, my tail went numb at the end. I opened one eye and lit a ki ball, looking at it curiously while trying not to panic. The end of it was still green with Zerg cells, and they felt like they were hanging on by threads and burning where they were. I pulled up more Psi and spread it around, mostly around the tail. Nothing much happened, but I ignited it from my hand, directing it at the end of the tail. Extreme pain hit and I groaned slightly, trying to remain focused. It was a smaller version of the Psi storm that I was using, much lower in power. That didn't matter, when the lightning from my hand hit, it was almost unbearable. I recalled then that the tail weakness had been brought out in full by the Overmind, so shocking it with lightning probably wasn't the best idea.

I stopped after a few seconds, seeing the singed Zerg cells burning and falling off. The buzzing around my body let up a bit, but remained. _It let up when I got rid of the Zerg cells on my tail, I wonder if I can use that all over to get rid of it in my blood._ I didn't dare use the same technique though. Instead I tried spreading my Psi all over and letting it settle calmly on every bone, cell, and blood vessel. At first every part of me started to burn as my blood seemed to have an adverse reaction to this. At the same time I remained focused on what I wanted. I wanted the Zerg in me gone forever. I wanted happiness to return to my life and wanted no part of darkness. Soon I felt my hand cool off, and it felt lighter like a great weight had been lifted. I opened my eyes for a moment to note that I was glowing blue. Then I saw little light bubbles of Psi lifting off of my hands. I scanned each one, feeling a piece of the Zerg genes leaving with them. I kept going, pouring on the Psi energy and watching the taint of the Zerg pour off of me from every area from head to toe to tail. After awhile the burning sensation was replaced by a cool mist of energy, and all of the Zerg genes had gone into the air, evaporating above me. I stopped what I was doing and smiled a bit, noting that the buzzing affect of the Feedback technique was very minimal at best. _Now I can safely say that I've split from the Zerg for good, back to what I was trying to do._

It only took an angry thought or two for the Feedback Wave to remind me it was still there. Having the Zerg genes gone was a great relief though, as I was concerned that they were going to grow back. I was almost totally sure they were completely gone, and just kept a cautious eye out for them. I continued my meditation to try to figure out this Feedback technique. It didn't seem to affect me when I was calm, only when angry. Powering up only affected its intensity; I had that figured out quickly. _Clear and content thoughts didn't activate it, I wonder about good and happier thoughts._ I refocused instead to my family and friends on earth, picturing a relatively good time being had. Vegeta was challenging Goku to any sort of contest, rather it be food, fighting or drinking. Videl was cornering Gohan while Mom and Chichi made fun of him. Trunks was egging on Goten to dump salt and pepper into the punch bowl. Krillin was minding his daughter, who was laughing at a beaten up Master Roshi who got a little too close to Eighteen. I smiled, that sounded like a typical reunion of the gang. I had kept channeling my Psi in a circle around me while thinking about the good times, losing myself into my imagination pretty easily. It wasn't till I opened my eyes again when I saw a white Psi ball around my wrist. It was like it was intangible and had gone through my arm partially. I snapped back to medium-content thoughts and heavy concentration, seeing it absorb itself into my arm again. I had it figured out very quickly though. _Whoa, gives new meaning to the term think happy thoughts. _

I focused again on good times at home, this time a simple sparing match between myself in Vegeta, one that never ended as neither of us was going all out. Grins placed themselves onto my mouth and onto Vegeta's, we both loved the draw of a good battle followed by a good meal. I kept my eyes open while I focused on this in the darkness. The white Psi ball glowed once again, and this time I moved my arm aside, seeing it float in the air instead. Using my Psi and keeping a general happy mood present, I pushed it away slowly with my energy. I watched until it safely floated towards the wall and bounced off of it a bit, stopping it there. I let the happy thoughts go back to a medium mood of concentration, seeing the Psi ball sit there and do nothing. _Test time._ I prepared to get severely shocked in case, and focused on my evil half laughing as he killed Fasha while I was forced to watch. Instant rage hit me, getting a slight power increase as a result. I kept it under control and kept it to simple growls and mental insults. The Psi ball simply floated there, doing nothing, and I felt nothing out of the ordinary. I felt its energy starting to drain, and it slowly faded away into the darkness. _Well that's half the battle, now how to do it myself._

**-**

Getting rid of that nasty feedback attack relied on pure emotional thoughts, so I could understand what Zeratul had been saying all along. If used for good, my Psionic energy would only attack evil, and anyone good or innocent would be spared as long as I kept a that pure intent. Keeping that thought in mind, I focused back to Earth, this time on a memory with Gohan, Videl and the boys. It was the night after we had defeated the final Kid form of Majin Buu. For the most part the Earth's residents were very happy and thankful, and Mr. Satan had finally given the "golden fighters" some credit. Once I felt positive all over once again, I shivered a bit, it had been awhile since I was in a good mood. Keeping a smile on my face, I gathered some Psi into my hand, just a small amount. I brought it out, getting a surprising white color instead of blue this time. I released it into the room, keeping a strong hold on its position before I scanned it over a few times. It felt very positive in nature, much like I was when I formed it. I took a deep breath, knowing I had to test it out on something to make sure it worked. I switched back to angry mode by seeing Broly attacking my friends and Aldaris cackling as his soldiers killed Videl. I barely kept a hold of myself by the reminder that it is just an exercise. I growled as I pulled back on the Psi ball, letting it hit me full on while I was focused on trying to kill Aldaris. The shocking pain hit instantly and put me on the ground. I struggled with it for a moment before finally laughing happily, causing it to lift away.

"It works, it actually works!" I said aloud, raising my hands in triumph. I practiced the technique a few more times, but I had it down and it only got easier to do after the first try. Eventually I could keep a determined and neutral mood while using it with a small amount of positive thoughts involved. It worked the same way no matter how positive my emotions got. I also learned how to make it dissipate should I feel the need. First there was any sort of contact with lifeless matter, say a wall or the floor. It would vanish and fall apart once it hit, which made it very easy for me to dispose of. The other way cost me a bit more energy and was a difficult discovery. It fed on any sort of negative energy and generally wasn't affected by a medium-content influence. Therefore adding positive energy canceled out the effect. It was sort of odd that the same thing that created it would also make it vanish, but it did make sense…to an extent. Once the positive forces canceled each other out, I could feel the anti-evil force reform itself into pure energy once again and I could re-absorb it if I was quick enough. This was odd, but I did prove it successful by creating two feedback balls at a time and throwing them together. All it created was a pure ball of blue Psi like it had been originally. While the first way to get rid of it would be easiest, the latter required a little more effort and energy, but it would also not waste it as I could re-absorb it afterwards. I decided that I would only try to get it back if I had the time and needed that small amount of energy. That certainly wasn't going to be a luxury I would have time for in most battles. I walked out of the chamber with a big fat grin on my face, looking for some food, as I had gotten hungry again.

**Interlude 42.1 –Overmind-**

For the most part, all Zerg enter a long sleep cycle while traveling through space. Especially all of them that travel aboard the Super Hive when it is constructed. The Overmind itself and its Cerebrates usually enter a hibernation mode as well, but keep their senses active while in transit. A strong energy surge then struck the Overmind, one he could not sense from afar, but rather within his mind.

"_What is it, Great Father_?" Daggoth asked telepathically from his own chamber.

"_It seems that young Verto has broken from the Swarm permanently. I have now lost track of him._"

Daggoth was instantly confused, "_I was to believe that he was already broken from your will because of the incident at Kerrigan's hive?"_

"_He did, his stronger spirit finally took back his body when he used his energy to overpower the other, the primary reason we left the planet in such a hurry. I did not need him joining forces with the Dark Templar before Broly was ready again, never mind my other creations. While it is true that he had very much reversed his infestation at the time and my link to him was cut, I could still sense some Zerg cells within him. He has now found a way to flush them out, perhaps with the help of the Protoss!_" the Overmind sounded slightly displeased.

"_No worries. Once we reach Auir and capture that fool Aldaris, you can create the perfect warrior between the races and nothing that Saiyan does will matter!_" Daggoth said with confidence. He heard the slow breath as the Overmind sighed in uncertainty.

"_Certainly you do not fear this child?_" Daggoth asked, trying not to be too pushy.

"_In his current state he is nothing to worry about. However if he were to master his powers even as he is now, he would be a greater threat than we perceived he could be. He knows how to surpass his own limitations in the blink of an eye, and I've never seen anything like that before. With any sort of time and training he could indeed be the warrior I feared he could be. Let us hope that all of the Protoss share that pride and code that forbids them to teach their ways to outsiders. The Dark Templar Zeratul knows of ancient techniques and channeling abilities that could vex the swarm terribly. If any of them are taught to young Verto, he could shatter our broods with minimal effort. The faster we capture Aldaris, the better!"_ the Overmind said, indeed sounding worried.

Daggoth's eye blinked in response, but ended the transmission. It was stressful enough for him to focus on what would indeed be a series of hard battles once they reached Auir. Having the Overmind in a worried and distressed state didn't bode well for any of them. The Overmind was right though, Daggoth had sensed some of the abilities of the Dark Templar when Verto fought them on Char. Even if Verto learned only one of their techniques, they were in trouble. Zeratul and his brethren understood the balance of power and also seemed to know how to properly channel their Psi energy. Mastery of Psi was about the only thing Verto needed to completely transcend himself. The Super Hive continued through space with all kinds of flying Zerg circling around it, all of them silent.

-

"You've mastered the Feedback technique already?" Zeratul exclaimed with wider glowing eyes than usual. I grinned slightly as he and Tassadar stood there, flabbergasted.

"Yeah, you want to see?" I asked.

"Not here young one, I am curious about your control. I can sense that you indeed did remove my own attack from yourself, so you certainly understand it. Executor, send Prince Vegeta to the chamber to meet us for a training exercise. I'm sure he would like to see this as well," Zeratul beamed slightly. Tassadar began to laugh slightly as he walked off.

"What's so funny?" I asked as I followed Zeratul back to the chamber.

The much taller Templar turned back, "Nothing, its just Tassadar isn't too fond of Vegeta's attitude. He has not the true patience it takes to deal with the Saiyan prince, you understand don't you?"

"I live with him, what do you think? It's not that bad if you can see past his language and emotional barrier. He doesn't always mean what he says. The others and myself like to call it _Vegetese_," I explained briefly.

"Either way, I myself have had enough of him for the few days I have known him. Your other friends are respectful to everyone, but his constant argument and confrontation with the universe is quite agitating," Zeratul said with slight disgust.

"I just tune it out when he gets into a rampage and it doesn't involve me," I said with a chuckle.

"A sound plan," Zeratul laughed. We arrived at the chamber and waited inside for a few minutes in silence. The prince himself arrived about ten minutes later, looking angry.

"I interrupted a fight with Kakarot for this, so you had better hurry up! What is it that you two needed to show me? I'll take you both on!" Vegeta declared, shooting up to Super Saiyan two in a heartbeat. _Oh he's pissed off, perfect!_

Zeratul raised his hand in peace, "No only fight the boy, I am only here to make sure nothing goes wrong!"

Vegeta grinned evilly as he started my way, "No fancy tricks boy! If I can't have my fight with Kakarot, then you're the next best thing. Bring it on!" He dropped into a fighting stance as I gathered some Psi into one hand and focused my mind into the clear and slightly positive. That wasn't hard, I was in a great mood as it was, and the look on Vegeta's face was about to be a Kodak moment.

"Come on boy, power up! Otherwise I'm going to beat your skull in as you are!" Vegeta threatened.

"There is no need for him to use his full power young prince, he can defeat you without it!" Zeratul said in complete confidence, watching me the whole time.

"Ha, we'll see about that!" Vegeta said, charging at me quickly. I quickly completed the attack and fired, jumping out of the way as Vegeta came by. He avoided the blast at first, going straight for me, but had to stop himself to turn around. He would have phased out and went right after me if he thought I was being serious, thankfully he didn't. I managed to stop my Psi ball before it hit the wall, holding it up with a single hand.

"Well boy, are you going to try to hit me with that pathetic excuse for an attack or not?" he said, crossing his arms.

"Happy to oblige, Feedback!" I shouted, flooding it with more energy and sending it surging backwards at him. He didn't move, and only held up one hand to bat it away. It struck and fused into his arm, just like I had hoped. He laughed a bit at first, until his aura shrunk and turned white as it surrounded him. The white energy lightning began, causing him to groan and grunt as the attack did its work. When he tried to power out, it only ripped him up with pain even more.

"Okay, Verto, that is enough!" Zeratul said, signaling me to stop the attack. I flew over to Vegeta and ignited my Psi sword, pulling the attack out of Vegeta's body and absorbing it into the sword and turning it white for a moment. I swung the sword to the side and released the small amount of energy, sending it harmlessly into the wall. Vegeta stopped squirming in pain once he realized that the effect was gone, jumping up to his feet and staring at himself in surprise. I deactivated the sword and stepped back, getting my own amusement out of the prince. He looked at me as if he was going to rip out my heart, but instead he powered back down to normal.

"Now that is the kind of ability I have been expecting out of you. Impressive attack for not being at full power! Something like that is excellent against a stronger foe. Is there any possible way for myself to learn it? I've been itching to show Kakarot something new!" Vegeta said.

"Only a pure being with true Psionic potential could even attempt it. Gohan is pure enough and has enough potential to handle it, however his abilities are best used the way they are now, as a power amplifier. Verto will be the only one to serve the side of Justice with the abilities that I teach him! A Super Saiyan like you however could not handle the extreme concentration and purity to perform such a technique. It would be, too advanced and difficult for one such as yourself!" Zeratul said, a direct slap to Vegeta's face if I had ever heard one. He chuckled at the Dark Templar slightly, not losing his cool by surprise.

"That may be true, but the boy will surpass you very quickly once his training is complete!"

Zeratul only shrugged, "That is the way of things then. That is all I have to teach you today young one, I am very impressed with your progress. I want you to meditate in the same way you must have used to master the Feedback technique. Let your Psionic power flow around you for several hours a day. After about a week of this I want you to constantly keep it flowing, even at rest and mealtime," he explained.

"Gotcha," I nodded.

"Until then boy, you need a real workout! Come outside with me and we will fight as Saiyans do!" Vegeta said with a clinched fist.

"Not necessary or advisable. Verto is to learn his Psionic power effectively and does not need to be engaging in any possibly injuring contests!" Zeratul said as he shook his head.

"Nonsense! The boy and I are nearly equal when at maximum power, it is the best way for him to master his powers, and it will make him stronger as well!" Vegeta argued.

"Perhaps his complete power will be mastered, but for the best effect, both energies should be mastered before he undergoes that kind of training. What is the point in trying to master the combination of two forces without mastering both by themselves? Trust in my knowledge young prince, it will prove itself better in the coming battles against the Zerg!" Zeratul explained.

Vegeta grunted with a slight nod of disappointment, "We will see about that old man. The Zerg are not that hard to defeat once engaged a few times!"

"Depends on the type of battle you are having. I don't anticipate a typical battle between Zerg and Protoss once we get to Auir," he said slowly, heading for the exit.

"What do you expect then?" I asked.

"It's true that the Zerg minions themselves are no match against you Saiyans now that you are used to fighting them. You and young Gohan will annihilate most of them very easily. I'm expecting something you two are more accustomed to, a battle involving you Saiyans, on both sides!" he said, opening the door.

"You mean fighting that Broly clone?" I asked again.

Zeratul stopped, "Broly, and perhaps more!" Vegeta and I stood there with slight shock as the door hissed shut.

**Next time on DBV: Raynor arrives with his ship fixed up and everyone prepares to leave Char. Verto visits Kerrigan one last time and receives a warning about what the future may hold when facing the Overmind.**


	44. Leaving Char

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 43: Leaving Char**

I did as Zeratul requested, and meditated for several hours at a time and channeling Psi all the way. He had said he only wanted me to go a few hours at once, but I didn't have anything else to do except eat and sleep. So for the next two days, all I did was meditate or walk around in a similar state. A few times I went outside to watch Vegeta and the others train "like Saiyans," mostly seeing general sparring matches, nothing too heavy. I remembered Kerrigan's help with my channeling and decided to apply that to my new training as well, it certainly couldn't hurt. When she, Raynor and I had been fighting those strange aliens that were allergic to light, she had shown me how to literally have an out of body experience on purpose. I had called it my Spiritual Vision technique, as I could see everything, including myself. One could also refer to it as an astral body form, or something similar. My evil self had used it in the very cave I was near, so my body was at least a little familiar with the technique. While meditating not far from one of Goku and Vegeta's Super Saiyan bouts, I refocused myself into watching them with that special ability while I continued to channel my Psi. It was very fun to be able to literally zoom in on the battle and then watch it a little slower than it was being fought. Every movement and every impact could be slowed to the point where I could see the individual muscles on each fighter cinch up before they even threw a punch. I didn't generally watch this way, but it was like I was in my own little time zone due to concentrating hard enough. The speed of phasing in and out did a similar thing when powered up high enough, but now I could see this without moving at all. I got so caught up in this activity that I forgot to scan around myself from time to time.

"What are you up to?" Gohan asked, landing next to my ear suddenly. I jumped slightly but stayed fixated in my concentration, looking back at my body and seeing the much taller Saiyan standing next to me.

"Training, why aren't you sparring with those two?" I asked.

"I was going to spar with Grandpa today, but he said he was tired and didn't come out of his room. We did go a little hard yesterday. But if I didn't know better I'd say you've been around Piccolo too much to be training that way. Not that there's anything wrong with constant meditation, its just not your style," he said, chuckling.

"Might change a bit, this is a really neat technique I'm using actually. It allows me to literally have an out of body visual on everything!" I said.

"You mean further enhanced senses with your energy?" Gohan asked.

"Yes and no, it was something Kerrigan showed me when she taught me how to control the Zerg against some other aliens on this planet. I was able to watch the battle and control them without moving at all. Obviously there's no Zerg to control here, but it's the visual I'm making use of. I'm using it right now to watch your dad and Vegeta duke it out from up close; they don't even know I'm there. I can see myself too, like if something is sneaking up on me and I need to shoot it down. I can literally slow down how I see things, or maybe speed myself up, whatever you want to call it," I explained.

"Sounds handy if you get in a bind and you're out of power or blind. Probably better not use it in the middle of a battle. Would be great for spying on something, though," he noted.

"Want to learn it? That way you can spy on Videl in the shower," I cracked.

"I was thinking the same thing about you," Gohan grinned, though I could tell he had blushed slightly.

"Perhaps, except I'm a kid again, I don't feel the need to do that. Oh, that was a good one," I said, bringing myself back to my position as I stopped watching the battle scene so I could speak to Gohan. The good one was seeing Goku anticipate one of Vegeta's punches and phasing out to kick him in the side, sending a shockwave off.

"So you say," Gohan grinned, giving me a slight elbow.

"Yeah…" We both fell silent once the small round of jokes were over. It was hard living with what had happened so far.

"When we get to Auir, we may need to split up to fight both Aldaris and the Zerg. It would make the most sense because then we can prevent the Zerg getting involved in that battle. Plus it may be difficult to face him if he's really as powerful as Kerrigan said," Gohan suggested.

"Well, I fought him here before that whole evil side thing started up, and he was much different compared to back on Earth. I had a lot of trouble catching him, and he used a ton of illusion techniques on me. He learned enough to channel his Psi and make a much stronger shield around his body. His Psi Storm was a hell of a lot stronger too, not to mention the energy blasts. Now that I think back to it, he could have beaten me in my Super Mystic form if he hadn't been trying to use mixed energy blasts. I don't know where he learned to use ki energy, but it didn't do him a whole lot of good to use them. His body possesses so much more pure Psi. Also, he could regenerate his ki at the sacrifice of Psi, but not to the point where he was balanced. I took me awhile to notice how deep his power goes, but it's there," I explained, letting my eyes close but still focused on the subject. I replayed that fight in my mind, looking carefully at the details that I remembered.

"Yeah. Frost showed him how," Gohan said.

"Frost?" I asked, as I had no idea who he was talking about.

"Yes, he's Frieza's son. We ran into him about a month after we left Earth to come after you. He said Aldaris stopped by there for repair parts and managed to bargain with him over learning how to summon energy like we do, then stabbed him in the back. I can't say any of us trusted Frost when we landed there for a similar repair job, but he seemed to hate Aldaris more and didn't seem to care about Dad killing Frieza!" Gohan answered.

"So he says. We may have a clean-up job to do if we get back to Earth and he's there. How strong was he?" I asked.

"I'm really not sure, but Vegeta sparred with him at Super Saiyan two and it was a draw. I scanned his energy over a few times, and I think he might be as powerful as us! I'm surprised that he didn't even try to attack us, let alone allow us to leave. We found a bomb in the engine compartments, but it was designed so we would have time to catch up to Aldaris. Obviously it doesn't matter now because Broly blew up the ship!" Gohan explained further.

"Doesn't sound like something the son of Frieza would do, especially if he is as strong as you say. Guess we'll cross that road when we come to it," I said.

"Yeah, anyway, about the fight on Auir…" he began. I knew where he was about to go with it though and I held up a hand to stop him.

"Don't worry, you can have Aldaris, I won't get involved unless I need to!" I said.

"Actually I don't really care either way, it was Vegeta that was going to tell you that. I really think we should split up so we can better establish a hold there. Since you're more accustomed to the Zerg you should go for them," Gohan suggested again.

I shook my head, "If Aldaris is as powerful as he could be, we should all go for one target or another. Aldaris should go down first though, I agree there. It may be some time before we get there and the Zerg will probably be all over the place as it is. I just hope that idiot doesn't do anything rash against them! He could smash the swarms, but I'm pretty sure Broly would rip him a new one!" I said.

"Good point. I guess being with the Zerg increased your thinking ability, eh?" he nudged my shoulder again.

"Something with fusing with the mind of that Cerebrate kicked my brain into overdrive, I could probably figure out cold fusion if I really wanted to. Maybe if I wasn't trying to focus on other important things," I said with a slight scowl.

"I guess Bulma will drive you into the books when we get back to Earth then. Just like my mother did me at your age!" Gohan said, grinning some more.

"Who said she had to know?" I replied.

"Yeah, but even if we don't tell her, she'll figure it out. She always thought you were pretty smart even though you never claimed it. Now it's official!"

I grunted, "I'm not smart, I just pay attention. Sorry, but the nerd job is still yours no matter how strong you get!" We sat in silence for a few more minutes before we sensed someone approaching. Artanis had walked up to us, observing the battle going on above.

"So what's the verdict on getting out of here?" Gohan asked when he got close.

"Still waiting on a response, last minute repairs and adjustments from what I heard," he said.

"Did you find a ship we can use?" I asked. I didn't get an answer because of a loud roar of an engine getting near. I looked up high in the air, seeing what looked like a Terran battle cruiser up there. This one looked a lot like Raynor's, as I saw blue markings on the outside like I had seen before.

"I guess he's ready now," Artanis noted, going back towards the cave.

-

The ship landed in the desert plain, kicking up a lot of dust and sand. Goku and Vegeta stopped their little spar to fly down to us and observe. It landed on three large stilts before powering down the engine and releasing what seemed to be stairs from the side doors. There were a few sets of these, though I had not seen them before today. The ship had been indented halfway into the ground when I last saw it.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Vegeta muttered.

"Why's that Vegeta? They're just normal humans," Goku said.

"That have a history of running rampant in this area according to Tassadar and Artanis. But if this is the only way off this rock I suppose I can put up with it, as long as they stay away from me," he grunted slightly. I spotted and sensed a few Terran soldiers emerging, looking unarmed by the looks of it. When the three got closer, I recognized the first one to be the bald headed Raynor himself. When he spotted me though, he quickly shifted his gaze. I knew why though, Gohan had told me that I wasn't myself in that day after Fasha's death. When I found myself walking towards Kerrigan's Hive cluster, I had been pumped full of stimulators by these guys and apparently killed the group that had done that.

"So you're the other Saiyans, pleased to meet you," Raynor said, sticking his hand out to shake Vegeta's, who was closest to him. Goku shook it instead, knowing Vegeta would not.

"I take it Artanis is in the cave?" he asked.

"Most of them are, do you know approximately how long it will take us to reach planet Auir?" Gohan asked, getting straight to the point.

"I don't know, they haven't given me the location yet. Guarded secret for now I guess, but we have more than enough room for all of you," Raynor said, giving me a quick glance once again.

"I see you have met the boy, you scared of him?" Vegeta asked, noticing his slight twitching.

"Who wouldn't be?" Raynor muttered a little too loudly.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I wasn't myself at the time," I said in a low tone.

"Well, it's not me that will hold it against you, it's the others on the ship. Fortunately I don't think many of them know your face, it was an audio only transmission. And most of their visual contacts with the Dominion fleet were not quick enough to see you. Besides, they all know not to mess with your kind, learned that lesson the hard way," Raynor said, casting a glance to his two aides. Artanis and Tassadar emerged from the cave a moment later, coming over to discuss things with Raynor.

"Are we all ready to go then?" Raynor asked.

"Nearly, we should load all of our portable supplies onto your ship. Whatever we leave behind should not be operable!" Tassadar suggested.

"No problem, one of us will just blow up the mountain," Vegeta grunted.

"Have you calculated how long it will take to get to Auir?" Gohan asked the Protoss this time.

"We estimate that with this ship it will take about one and a half months. However we can tinker with the hyper drive of this ship and install some modifications to cut that time to three to four weeks. At top speed with no problems we could get there six days after the Zerg arrive, but that is the best-case scenario. Most likely we will arrive nearly two weeks behind them," Tassadar replied.

"What about your global defenses? If Aldaris is indeed in charge of everything, won't he have us shot down before we enter the planet's atmosphere?" Vegeta asked.

"We are hoping that the chaos that the Zerg create will allow us to arrive without a problem. Do you have extra environmental suits Captain Raynor?" Artanis asked.

"More than enough to fix the whole damn thing in the middle of the trip if need be...assuming we have to!" he said.

"Very well, we should depart as soon as possible. Have our people begin loading the ship!" Tassadar ordered as Artanis ran off.

"I suppose I should wake up Grandpa," Gohan muttered, walking that way as well.

"He still isn't out of bed yet?" Goku asked, looking a bit concerned.

"Well, I tried to wake him up earlier for training, but he said he was tired. I didn't bother him past that point, why?" Gohan asked.

"We trained very moderate yesterday, but a Saiyan like him shouldn't be tired," Vegeta said, looking wary.

"I'll go get him," Gohan said, heading inside. He was running back to us within a few minutes.

"He isn't there, I didn't sense him anywhere inside!" Gohan said in a slight panic.

"Calm down boy, I'm sure your senses were blocked by the cave walls, they are made of a dense material," Vegeta said, scanning around. I took this as a signal to scan around the planet. I quickly found a strong energy signal flying straight towards the one remaining Zerg Hive Cluster. Bardock was angry by what I could sense, and I had a pretty good feeling of what he was going to try to do. There weren't that many Zerg there, but they were Kerrigan's brood and were not hostile anymore, that and she may get pulled into it. Apparently Goku found it about the same time as I did.

"He's near the Zerg and powering up by the feel of it, you don't think he's going to…?" he asked.

"Let's go Gohan," I said, putting a hand to his arm.

"You two shouldn't go alone. Bardock can handle himself against the Zerg, if anything he will be doing us a favor," Vegeta said.

"I don't think he's thinking about just taking out a Zerg base, he feels too angry to be thinking clearly at all!" I explained.

"Go you two, stop him before he gets himself hurt," Goku ordered, making the executive decision for us.

"Hang on," Gohan said, putting two fingers to his head.

-

I was most displeased to see that Gohan's instant transmission was just like Goku's, rough on the insides. I kept my lunch down as we arrived to see Bardock firing all kinds of ki blasts at the surroundings. The Zerg did try to attack back, but many of them got cut down where they stood. All of the structures were either bleeding or collapsed, the smaller ones getting the worst of it so far.

"Grandpa stop!" Gohan said as we got close.

"Die you Zerg bastards! Think you could kill my crew and get away with it?!" Bardock shouted as he ignored us. _Well at least he isn't blaming me, yet_.

"Grandpa!" Gohan shouted again, this time hurling towards him and catching him in a full nelson lock to hold him back.

"Get back Gohan, I'm finishing the job here on Char!" he warned. I chose this moment to float in front of Bardock, fully realizing that he may snap on me.

"Hey, these Zerg are not part of the Overmind's swarm anymore, they are gone. If you're going to pin this on anyone, either take it out on me, or on the Overmind!" I said sharply. He stopped for a moment, taking in my words and seemingly calming a bit, despite being at Super Saiyan two.

"I don't blame you kid, the Zerg made you do those things. I blame them for everything!" Bardock said in a lower but calmer tone.

"Then let's get the hell out of here and finish the job that needs to be done. Let's take this fight to the Overmind!" I replied sharply.

"All right then," Bardock nodded, powering down a bit. I sighed, _This could have been bad_. I noticed that I spoke to soon, a lot of Zerg forces then surrounded us in the air, mostly comprised of the dragon like Mutalisks and the kamikaze Scrounges. There were easily over a thousand of them.

"Looks like you got their attention Grandpa," Gohan noted, taking up a mid air stance.

"You two go back to the ship. I can handle this without it getting ugly, and there's something I need to do anyway," I claimed.

"Kid, we just got you back from the Zerg, don't be doing foolish things like this!" Bardock suggested.

"I've been with them for a few months now, they aren't going to screw with me," I said.

"If you're sure," Gohan said, getting ready to teleport out.

"Positive, I'll signal you when I'm ready to go back," I said.

"Okay, I'll be waiting," Gohan said as he and Bardock teleported out. I turned a slow circle, hearing all kinds of hissing and screeching going on, now directed towards me primarily. I powered up slightly with both energies, making sure they got a good feel of it. At first they began to close in on me when they sensed it.

"Get back!" I shouted. As I expected, they stopped and backed off, some of them whimpering slightly. _Just as I thought, they recognize my energy signal._ I floated down but stayed about a foot off the ground, flying towards the main hive cluster. I didn't enter though, and chose to wait outside instead. The Zerg gathered around me, but stayed at a distance in case I decided to go off on them, they seemed to remember what I could do to them at any moment. The doorway opened and the creature I expected stepped out.

"Glad to see you're up and about. You really should teach some of your manners and restraint to your friends," Kerrigan said, wiping some of the hive's residue off of her shoulders and hair. No doubt she was a mess because of all of the blasting that had been going on.

"Sorry about that. I didn't know until it was too late," I explained.

"Nothing that can't be fixed. I suppose you're here to tell me you're leaving now, you shouldn't bother. I'm a telepath after all," she replied.

"Actually, I was here to thank you," I said.

"I was partially responsible for everything that has happened to you and your friends. Part of the reason you had that apparent split personality was because of me. Your girl died because of my interference and you're here to thank me?" she asked, astonished.

"It wasn't you that is the cause of that, it is the Overmind's fault all the way. You helped to save me, besides, it's nothing that can't be fixed with the Dragonballs back on Earth or Namek," I said.

"I see. Truly, you are a gifted youngster, and I sense you are learning things from the Dark Templar as well, you will probably need them. Just remember, focus yourself to completely wiping out the Overmind, it's the only way this nightmare is going to end for either of us!" she said strictly.

"Don't worry about that," I said, turning to fly away.

"One more thing Verto," she said as I began to flare my energy for Gohan to pick up.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You may encounter your friends as infested clones on Auir. The Overmind has had more than enough time both here and on the Earth to get all of the blood samples he would need, rather they were living or dead. That includes yourself as well! It may not seem likely, but he has considerable ways to get what he wants. It may not only be Broly you face!" she said just as Gohan teleported in.

"I see. I'll do my best!" I saluted as Gohan put a hand to my shoulder.

"I know you will. Farewell!"


	45. Blending with Shadows

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 44: Blending with Shadows**

The Protoss loaded up their equipment very quickly after Gohan and I returned. We were off Char in about two hours, and I was quite glad to be off that planet. I spent the rest of the standard day meditating in the room assigned to me. I had the option of sharing a room with either Vegeta or Goku, but I wanted the quiet time so I could concentrate. I took one that was on the far side of all the crew and guest quarters, with the least traffic. I barely took note of how easy it was to reach into my Psi energy now. It was like I didn't have to break the mental wall that was up for it, it was just there. Zeratul didn't have anything new to show me until the next day. After eating breakfast, which was finally something similar to an earth meal thanks to Raynor's replicators, I met Zeratul in one of the cargo bays. He seemed rather hesitant at first; as he didn't speak to me for about ten minutes after I arrived. I didn't ask why, nor did I speak to him at all. So I just sat across the room until he decided to break the silence.

"My next lesson is difficult to learn, even for the most gifted mind. I'm not sure you will be able to handle the kind of focus this technique will require," he rasped quietly.

"Well...I've been meditating more than you asked me to lately. I want to get this energy mastered as quickly as possible," I said.

"Yes, I can tell. Your eyes are beginning to permanently shift colors, more than likely a side effect of that," he said, holding up a handheld mirror. I looked into it, noting that I had not powered up today at all, not even to sense the Psi signals of others. Yet I could feel their traces without even trying, much like I could regular ki energy. My eyes were now a dark blue, yet I couldn't see any pupils in them. I figured out quickly that the pupils must have shifted colors as well, just like they would while transformed. I was already in Psi mode so to speak, but without powering up at all, or even reaching into my energy pool.

"Your body is beginning to adapt so well that you no longer have to concentrate so hard on bringing out your energy. That is a good sign. It will speed up this process and allow you to focus on your complete power. Perhaps Vegeta will get his wish sooner rather than later," Zeratul said with a grunt.

"So what is it you wanted to teach me then?" I asked, handing him back the mirror.

"Hold on. Since your power has pretty much been mastered, you should have the ability to perform this next technique. I trust you are familiar with my people's ability to cloak themselves, to literally blend into the air and environment without movement?" he asked me.

I nodded, "Yeah. It's a neat trick, I can't even detect you guys when you do it. Some of the Protoss ships did that on Earth and I couldn't detect them either, almost like trying to sense past an invisible wall!"

Zeratul chuckled, "The cloaked ships from Auir are made from a similar technology that we designed, however over the years our people have perfected the actual technique to where nothing can detect anything but air, including the Zerg. We have referred to it as the Shadow Slip technique. The fact that even you can't sense us in that state shows me how valuable the technique actually is, and why you may need to learn it for future use. However, this is not an easy technique for a non-Dark Templar to perform, due to the extreme concentration it requires. You probably won't be able to use it for a very long amount of time, nor very often. For you it would be similar to firing a maximum power beam a few times consecutively until you get used to it. It won't burn up all of your energy, but it may leave you mentally drained. It is a great ability to have however. A nearly flawless defense to yourself during a battle by taking away the sense that most enemies need to fight against you, sight. And if you move and adjust your energy correctly, it will block you from all senses. However I am going to leave this up to you on rather you learn this or not," Zeratul said carefully.

I thought it over quickly, "Are you kidding? What's the point of telling me about it if I'm not going to at least give it a try? Let's do it!"

"Very well," he said.

-

"The reason we are training in here is so you better understand what you are attempting. The purpose of the technique is to blend completely into your surroundings by spreading your Psi energy outwards. However if any other energy is being used at the time, or the Psi concentration is affected in any way, you will lose the effect. How I want you to begin is to fall into sync with this room. Study the energy flowing from through it, and search hard to make sure you don't miss anything. Once you've done this, you must flood the area with your own Psi energy, but keep it at such a low level that your Psi energy field matches that of your surroundings completely. Any sort of difference in energy levels in the size of the area you choose to use this, and the attempt will fail. Fortunately this does not include what other beings may do to raise their ki energy level. However you must focus on any sort of spirit in the area, and apply the correct amount of energy for each spirit's location. Then you simply focus yourself into the position you are already in, as part of the field with the correct match of Psi. Do you understand?" he asked. I kept my eyebrows in a raised and curious position, as it was a bit confusing to take in.

"One question, why did we pick this room? The only energy I can currently detect is you and me, this room is void of it at all," I said.

"While it may be easier to pick up all traces of energy in a environment rich of spirits and life, it is possible to miss tiny fields of energy that you didn't detect before. Master it in a room void of life and you can do it anywhere much easier," he said. _I suppose I should have expected an answer like that._

"I will cloak myself so you can concentrate on this room a little better, just ask if you need assistance," Zeratul said. I sighed as he slowly vanished like a ghost, opening myself to the cargo bay. I didn't bother looking around; it was full of technology that I didn't understand. I scanned for all traces of Psi in the room, not finding any to start with, including Zeratul. I looked deeper, finding just a trace of it in the air and in a spread out cloud of it, about five feet to my right and all the way up to the ceiling, clinging there. It was easier to find than I thought it would be, but tracking it was something in and of itself. Its layer was about three feet thick from what I could tell, but it was varied and moving just slightly. I groaned slightly as I felt its slight wavering. _He wasn't kidding when he said it was difficult._

"Have you found the tiny amount of energy in this room yet?" Zeratul asked, startling me.

"Yeah, it's up in the air and moving around a little. This is gonna be really hard to follow its movement," I said.

"You must follow its pattern, most energy flows do not change no matter what happens. However on the battlefield that you may be used to, a large energy bomb may kill the plant life and any sort of animals in the area, which will affect the energy field as that Psi has been extinguished. You must be prepared to change the Psi field you apply quickly, otherwise it will reveal your form in a short amount of time. As long as your energy field matches the environment, you will not be detected," he said.

"Okay, I'll try," I said, focusing on the area of the room again. _So it's based on using a Psi filled field of power, kind of like the Psi storm technique Kerrigan showed me._ I followed the tiny energy field with my senses, seeing that it wavered a bit to the right before floating to the left again. Much like an oscillating fan. Luckily for me, it kept on the same track. I started releasing my energy around me, focusing it up into the ceiling area. I had to pull a lot more power back to me than I thought I needed to; the amount of energy in the air was next to nothing by comparison.

"You're almost there," I heard Zeratul whisper. I managed to match the level of the energy in the air, and then started to move it around in the pattern it was displaying. I pulled the rest of my energy back to me before burying all of it. This part was easy, I was used to concealing my power level thanks to Vegeta and Piccolo's training. I made sure to match the small amount of energy around myself as well, no doubt that was part of it.

"Keep your focus, but open your eyes," Zeratul said. In front of my face the mirror hovered as I kept a lock on the energy field. The surrounding room stayed the same, but in the mirror I did not see my face, only the cargo directly behind me. I waved my hands in front, noticing that I barely saw them at all. I looked down at myself, seeing directly through my body like I was a ghost. I could see a trace of myself there, but it was clear and barely visible to me other than a slight outline. I glanced to my right, seeing Zeratul standing there, his body in a similar state.

"Stay focused, but now get up and walk around. Adjust the energy field as you need," Zeratul instructed. I did as he asked, grunting slightly when I detected a slight fluctuation in the energy field. I managed to make a quick enough adjustment to maintain it, but just barely as my hands started to come into view again.

"This wasn't as hard as you made it out to be," I said after a few laps around the room.

"It really isn't that bad, however using it on a battle field is much different," Zeratul explained. I noticed that he then shifted back into normal view, his figure solid. The Psi field then became disrupted as a new spirit had come back into view. I sent out a very small amount of energy to counteract this, keeping it around where his body was. I then waved my arms around, not seeing them myself.

"Impressive. You are a fast learner," Zeratul said with what looked like a grin.

"Thanks, I try," I smirked even though he didn't see it. The door to the cargo bay suddenly opened, with Vegeta storming in. Zeratul looked back in surprise, but I sent out more energy to cover Vegeta's abrupt entry into the room. Luckily I already knew how strong of a Psi signal Vegeta would have, which was hardly any stronger than a normal spirit.

"Where's the boy old man? There are matters of which he and I must discuss!" the prince said with a snarl.

"Where is Verto? That is an excellent question," Zeratul said smugly. I grinned while keeping a sharp focus, Vegeta was technically staring right at me.

"No games old timer, these are serious matters!" Vegeta growled.

"Have patience young prince. I will send him to you once he and I are done for today. He is in a very focused state right now and must not be disturbed with your small talk!" Zeratul said sharply.

"Fine, I'll be in my quarters, but hurry it up!" Vegeta barked before stomping out. When his spiritual signal was gone, I quickly pulled that amount of energy back to my body, burying it again.

"I believe you are ready for the next step," Zeratul said when I didn't reappear.

-

Zeratul had been very impressed with my progress. As he had told me, not many of his people could master that technique in less than a week, never mind an hour. He was right though, the technique was a little straining to constantly do. He told me that the size of the area I chose was up to me, but described how much harder it actually is for a small area of affect. It would work just the same, and it would be easier to start with, but maintaining the energy field is much more difficult as moving around constantly changes it more than a large area would. Plus it's easier to sense the potential changes coming in a larger energy field than a small one, especially if you can see them coming; Vegeta barging in was a great example. On the flipside, changing the energy field in a large area would be slower than a smaller one. He had me try a few more times, noting that I could do it faster and faster each time. On the last try before he sent me off, he had me power up just a little bit with my ki. Nothing happened, until he had me charge some into my hands. The golden ki appeared as solid as it would be normally, showing a better outline of my body in the process. I floated a bit around the room, showing a golden hue beneath my feet that would definitely look suspicious. I stopped this concentration and tried my Psi sword ability while keeping myself under the cloak. The sword became a dull gray color, telling me that I could keep it very low with my energy until a striking point was reached.

Zeratul continued being impressed with my progress, saying that it wouldn't take long at this rate. He had a challenge for me to master the technique: Walk around the ship in that state, including during meal times. Before I did that though, I tried it out while going to see Vegeta, who was in his room. I walked down the hall, ducking past Zealots, Human soldiers and Templars. None of them saw me from what I could tell, as I didn't get any ugly looks and I could see through my hands as I waved at them. I did struggle a bit to hold up the technique though, despite there being a low number of people. I got to Vegeta's room, buzzing him with the control pad on the outside.

"ENTER!" he barked. The door opened at that command, and I stepped inside as it shut quickly behind me, obviously not detecting me either. Vegeta looked back at the door and narrowed his eyes, not seeing me at all as I stepped out of the line of sight. He growled and started towards the door. I kept an easier focus now that I was out of the hallway, putting a small amount of Psi around his position and moving it as he stomped towards the door. I couldn't help but chuckle at the role reversal. More than once he has done the same thing to me by moving so fast that I couldn't detect him. He pressed the button to open the door, scowling, as he looked both ways. Luckily the halls were very empty and no one passed by to disrupt my energy field, or to get blasted by Vegeta. He stepped back inside, which automatically closed the door, grumbling about any children that might be on board.

"So what did you want to see me for?" I asked, but not dropping my cloak.

"What? Who's there?" he snarled, looking and scanning around. I rolled my eyes, _I should have known he would react like this._

"It's me Vegeta, look to your right," I ordered, slowly pulling all of the energy I released back to me and coming out of sync with the area. I kept a hand in front of my eyes so I could see when I finally reappeared.

"How did you move that fast boy? I couldn't hear you or sense you? And you're not powered up! Explain!" he ordered once I slowly faded into view.

"I didn't move fast at all, it was what Zeratul showed me how to do. You know how they cloak themselves from sight and sense? I walked in here like that," I said with a grin.

"Impossible," he claimed.

"Want me to do it again?" I asked.

"Can you teach others this ability?" he asked, just like he had about the Feedback attack.

"No, it requires Psi usage, and it's really hard to focus on," I said.

"That is another excellent ability to have for battle," he noted.

"Yeah, but it won't do me that much good. I can't concentrate a big attack without it showing my location, and I can't fly around. It'll show my position," I said.

"Then why teach it to you if you can't attack?" he barked back at me.

"I can attack, it just won't be a big attack, more like a sneak attack or something. It'll be real good with my sword technique, or maybe to quickly charge a big one when an opponent's back is turned!" I argued.

Vegeta thought about that one for a minute, "Wait just a second, I was to understand that you and Gohan had to use ki energy to access your Psi energy. How can you keep that down enough to vanish like that?"

"Good point. Once I got things down a few months ago, I could pretty much use it at will with only a very slight drain. Now I've started to master my Psi enough to the point where I don't need ki to bring it out. Here I'll power all the way down and my eyes will stay blue!" I said, doing just that.

Vegeta stood there, dumbfounded, "How does this kid do it?"

"Great teachers," I cracked a smile.

"Can you use this in your Super Mystic form?" he asked next.

I stopped, "Umm, I don't know. I haven't been in that form, since… well you know," I said, wondering myself.

"Well then, ascend to that form right now, power up! Just don't get so angry that you shake the ship apart!" he ordered. I powered up quickly with both energies. I thought about getting angry for a second, but instead tried to just bring my energies together at the same time and same level. I had been hearing nothing but how it worked based on balance, so I figured I should try it. As soon as my ki and Psi flowed together, a sudden rush of power came flying out, one that I wasn't expecting. This caused me to shout a little louder than normal as the bright silver aura surrounded me and the room brightened greatly. Vegeta was forced back a step or two before I pulled the energy back to me once getting control of it again. I looked at myself in surprise, it was just as easy as powering up the regular way. I heard a slight alarm go off, followed by Goku and Gohan teleporting into the room, both with food in their mouths.

"Is everything okay?" they both asked in panic.

"It's fine," Vegeta said, scowling in my direction.

"Why are you powered up?" Gohan asked.

"I was just testing it," I admitted, staring at my hands.

"In other words, he's about mastered the form in a short amount of time," Vegeta grumbled.

"Oh, okay. Well I'm going back for my food, come on Gohan!" Goku said, teleporting out with his son.

"You jealous or something?" I asked.

"No, I am very proud of you. That doesn't mean they needed to know though," he said, turning back towards the space windows. I sighed, it had been awhile since I had been around Vegeta to remember all of his emotional reactions, or lack there of. My Vegetese was out of date.

"Well, try out that cloaking technique while you're powered up!" he ordered a moment later.

I immediately concentrated and closed my eyes, focusing on the energy of the room. I found all of it easily, but when I attempted to pull up my Psi, I realized a very serious problem. My fused energy made it a pain to use Psi by itself, and actually made it even more difficult to concentrate on both the outside energy field, and my own. I gave it a shot anyway, and then noticed that my full power was adding to the energy field at a rather constant rate, I wasn't going to be able to match it for longer than a second or two. I worked with my fully mixed energy instead of just Psi, and most of the electronic devices in the room started going crazy once the air started to charge up. I sighed slightly when I go no real effect out of it.

"I don't think it's going to work so well in this form. The fused energy makes it even more difficult to focus with that particular technique. It didn't do anything to the surroundings when I managed it with my energy suppressed," I explained quickly.

"I see, no matter I suppose. It's probably better used as cover to escape from a battle, the coward's way out!" Vegeta snorted slightly. I rolled my eyes slightly at this, _he never changes._

-

"So what did you need to see me about?" I asked as I powered down.

"How's your mental and emotional attitude lately?" he asked.

"Fine. Why?" I asked back.

"It's because of your mate. I would have thought that depression might have sunk in by now, but perhaps you have accepted the fact that it wasn't directly your fault," he stated.

I frowned slightly, "Well, as much as I wanted to blame myself for not stopping it at the time, I can't legitimately. You guys are right, it wasn't me that killed her, and I understand that, but I do long to see her. As much as I despise it, turning me back into a kid probably helped me in that regard. It hurts inside a lot, this training has been a pretty good distraction come to think of it," I explained, my mood quickly turning gloomy.

"Keep it that way if you can, focus on nothing but your training and your objective to destroy the Overmind. It'll keep you alive a lot longer!" he ordered as I nodded.

"Is that all?" I asked after a moment of silence.

"We were planning on performing the Ritual of Separation with you two, but that plan has been shot to hell. Assuming we all make it through this, we will do that once we wish everyone back. Otherwise, if you end up dying, you will have to meet up with her and then find a Saiyan in the afterlife that knows of it, understand?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I'll pull through," I said plainly.

"You had better, I can't stand the sound of my woman crying," he said, smirking slightly. I laughed slightly along with him, Bulma, aka Mother, was only a step away from angry mode when she was crying.

"Get back to your training, I expect you to plow over our enemies on Auir at the rate you're going now," he said, practically shoving me out the door.

**A/N: I hope that the Shadow Slip technique was explained well enough for you readers. Basically its Invisibility to both sight and energy senses, but can't really be used while powered up. You can also call it stealth.  
**

**Next time on DBV: General Duke plants a trap for the crew of the Hyperion, and the Saiyans are pulled into a large space battle. Oh, and Verto discovers a new ability too, next time.**


	46. Breathing

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 45: Breathing**

For the next week and a half I practiced turning invisible as I wondered the ship. Meal times were kind of hard to manage though, keeping focus off of food was understandably difficult. Any other time I was doing decently, as long as I wasn't in an area that featured many people coming and going. I stuck to a few hallways that featured random figures going to and forth, for the most part meditating in the middle of it but next to a wall. I would focus myself to watch all of the area with my senses, and release or take back energy as needed, depending on traffic mostly. The tricky spots were the ones that featured both Terran and Protoss running around. Many times I couldn't easily guess which one was about to enter or exit, not to mention their energy levels were different and I had to keep my own in check. I reappeared many times during this, scaring the shit out of whoever was there all the time. I scowled slightly, I was going to need to master this before trying it in the wide open outdoors, where the energy field would be much larger. It bothered me to no end that it was close to impossible to remain in that state in a populated area. If no one was moving around, never mind entering or leaving the area, it would be no sweat. _Can't have everything easy I suppose, I wonder how Zeratul handles the unpredictability. _

After several hours a day of this, I returned to my room and meditated some more, but only generating Psi energy around myself at regular intervals. Zeratul didn't request for me to come see him again until I felt that I had mastered the Invisibility trick. I found that a bit odd that he didn't seem to check on me from time to time, but then again he could be sneaking around at any time and I may not have known it. That thought alonefreaked me out a bit from time to time, causing me to turn invisible just to check my room at times. Occasionally Goku or Gohan would stop by my room, just seeing if I was okay since I rarely saw them at meal times. I was still running on a different schedule than anyone else was, andso many times I was actually sleeping when they came by. I got a lot of comments on how blue my eyes were after power downs, which at least allowed me to know that I was doing things right. The other four Saiyans were doing a lot of light sparring in the lower levels of the battle ship, mostly because their gravity chamber had been destroyed thanks to Broly. Only our mission seemed to keep Vegeta from requesting to stop at some other abandoned planet so they could train harder, or as far as I could tell. I went down there a few times to practice my invisibility focus, finding it easier to concentrate with fewer life forms around. It was still no picnic with four Saiyans fighting with each other with super speed. I kept up pretty well with the energy fields, but many times I couldn't keep going after about five to ten minutes, usually whenever someone did something I didn't expect or anticipate. I felt that five to ten minutes in a major battle was excellent to be able to pull off, especially if I needed a way out against a stronger opponent. I still declined sparring matches per Zeratul's orders, though I was quite eager to engage in them.

I also had been practicing something new during those light sparring matches. I began to create thick barriers of Psi energy around myself as a shield and had someone fire some ki blasts at it. All of the minor blasts were either deflected or canceled out, and we didn't dare try a big one. Whichever happened, my new energy shield didn't seem to decrease in power even if I was taking on a lot of small ki blasts at a rapid pace. I remembered Aldaris doing the same to me, and figured that if he could learn it, so could I. It had saved him a lot of trouble dealing with dodging and repelling attacks, not to mention it was a very quick way to use the Psi storm technique on anyone within close proximity. I also figured that this could be an easy way to deal with the Zerg and save energy. I recalled what happened to Zerg when low amounts of mixed energy hit them, instant death. Gohan told me that he had been able to adapt that very well when they got to Char, saying that in Super Mystic form it was very easy to do by just spreading out the fused energy. I was already becoming an expert at that. It just so happened that I beat Zeratul to the punch on the shielding technique, he was going to teach me how to do that the next day after I got it down, saving me a day of lessons in vague language. He also had sent Tassadar to me for learning how to use a Psi Storm attack, something Kerrigan had already showed me how to do.

It was on the eleventh day off of Char that I was rudely introduced to an unknown ability. I was mentally exhausted because of all the energy and focused mind training I had been doing lately. I had gotten to the point where I could walk around the ship and stay invisible for about thirty to forty minutes, but I had to move rather slowly while doing so. There were just too many people walking around at times, and differing energy levels didn't help either. I didn't stop until I ran into Zeratul, literally. He sent me back to my room to simply meditate and no longer attempt the technique until I was rested. I about collapsed when I got to my bed, I wanted to sleep so badly that my stomach's growling was ignored. Halfway through that sleep cycle I had to get up and feed it, but I was back to bed pretty quickly after devouring a meal that would put Goku to shame. I wasn't sure how long I was asleep when I swore I heard a loud explosion from somewhere. When I woke upthough, I thought I was still dreaming. I was floating in a black void filled with stars, like many I had imagined during meditation. There were pieces of metal debris floating around nearby as I glanced over them. I sighed slightly, quickly realizing that my breath was short. I tried to take **in **a breath, but couldn't. I thought I was choking at first, but then I realized that I couldn't breathe because there was no air. My remaining exhale came out as a scream as I panicked.

**Interlude 45.1: Hyperion**

"Report!" Captain Raynor shouted as he picked himself back up into his captain's chair. Artanis and the other Templar on the bridge were shaken just as much as the humans were, wondering themselves what had happened. Bardock and Vegeta were present as well, but were otherwise unaffected.

"We hit something. Looks like one of General Duke's shock mines!" an officer named Butler said from his station.

"Damage?"

"We hit it on the port side, decks four and five, sections fifteen through nineteen were destroyed!" Raynor sighed slightly, it was not a vital area of the ship.

"Emergency force fields are up and holding around the affected areas, I recommend we seal them off!" Artanis suggested.

"Yeah go ahead, what the hell is down there anyway?" Raynor asked.

"The tail end of guest and crew quarters, empty ones, except for," Butler paused and glanced at Vegeta and Bardock. Vegeta was instantly gone, and the cameras barely caught him streaking down the halls until he reached the edge of the containment area. He stood there silently before putting a few dents in the walls. His audio was cut off, though most everyone knew what he was saying. Goku and Gohan arrived a few minutes later, asking Vegeta what happened. He grimly glanced at them before walking off, coming back to the bridge area with the other two Saiyans a few minutes later.

"Where was that mine before we dropped out of hyperspace?" Artanis asked.

"About one half of a parsec behind us now, we were moving at maximum speed!" Butler answered.

"We go back and search the wreckage, if we hurry we can still save him!" Vegeta said.

"That is impossible! How can any living being survive in space for any amount of time? It's been nearly six minutes now, there is no chance that anyone could be alive out there!" Butler argued.

"Don't underestimate a Saiyan, I know he can make it!" Vegeta said in a low tone.

"Alright, set a course back to where we hit the mine and scan for any and all life signs. We have to at least try!" Raynor said.

"Setting course sir!" Butler said with a hopeless shake of the head. Before he could engage the engines, another violent shake shook the ship.

"Captain, we've been hit by an ATA laser beam on the starboard nessel! Reading partial engine failure. Sir we are detecting multiple Terran ships dropping out of hyperspace from all sides, we are surrounded!" Butler shouted.

"Battle stations! Prepare to return fire!" Raynor ordered.

"I am activating our plasma shield generators, that should keep some of their firepower deflected, but it can't take too much of a beating!" Artanis warned.

"I'm picking up seventeen battle cruisers and approximately sixty wraith flyers out there. Sensors say, we're screwed! We're receiving a hail from the Dominion flagship Norad Three, it's General Duke!"

"As I should have guessed. A stray beacon or shock mine are his favorite surprise ambush calling cards! It probably won't do much good, but open a channel!" Raynor ordered. Duke's much older face appeared on the view screen, along with a very country-born accent.

"Ah, Commander Raynor. What a pleasant surprise it is to find your ship out here in the middle of nowhere. Yet you are tearing through this area of space like you've stolen something! Tell me, what are you in such a hurry for?" Duke asked. Raynor didn't answer at first, Bardock did instead.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Pardon me Captain, I didn't realize that you had such brash new recruits, and a few Protoss on your ship as well? Can't make a living so you just shuttle around anyone don't you? I'll make you a deal, surrender your ship and companions and we may let them off easy. You are going to stand trail on all counts of treason that we have to offer! Surrender now or be destroyed!" Duke warned.

Bardock snorted slightly, "Where are your space suits located? I think we should take this outside!" Vegeta nodded, looking quite eager to get into a fight. Gohan followed the pair to the elevator shaft, before Goku shouted at them to stay.

"Wait guys! I sense something strange out there, we should stay here!" he said, looking up and around.

"What is it Dad?" Gohan asked.

"I don't know, but I don't think we should get in the middle of it!" he warned.

"So what does the fearless leader have in mind?" Vegeta growled. Goku didn't answer, only looked on as Raynor and Duke continued their argument.

"There's no way I'm surrendering to you Duke! I should have left your sorry ass to the Zerg on Antiga when I had the chance! It's you and Mengsk's fault that I split from the Dominion, your ambitions to rule the sector are wrong! I'm gonna finish what should have been done long ago!" Raynor shouted at the screen.

"And what is that dear boy? You are surrounded by the Dominion's armada. Even your ship has no chance against this many warships!" Duke said with a grin. Raynor cut the connection immediately.

"Fire a shot at Duke's bridge!" Raynor ordered. Soon the ship rocked with incoming laser blasts, some bouncing off the shields, some not.

"If we're going to save the ship, we need to get those suits on and get outside to deal with them directly dad. We need to do it now!" Gohan said, raising his voice a little more.

"Can you sense them well enough to transmit over to their ships?" Vegeta asked Gohan.

He shook his head, "No, being somewhat normal humans, their signals are very low. Their ships are made out of a hard material similar to the cave walls. I can't get a clear cut signal!" Goku still didn't move, he seemed frozen in wonder about something. What he sensed was somewhat familiar to him, but with all of the shooting going on he couldn't be sure of himself.

-

"Concentrate all laser batteries on the Norad Three. If we're going down, we're taking that heartless bastard with us!" Raynor ordered. The firefight between one ship and many continued, with the Hyperion taking a beating but not taking superficial damage.

"Protoss shields down to thirty-six percent sir, we are not going to hold up against this barrage without some help!" Butler announced.

Raynor glanced at Artanis, "Can your people do anything about this?"

"Not in space, if we were on a planet surface we could do something about it. Our shield enhancements will not take much more of this barrage, I suggest you allow the Saiyans to suit up and head out there themselves. Our plasma shields are strong, but not against this battery of weapons," Artanis suggested.

"Fine then, you'll find the extra environmental suits on deck three, section twenty-eight. Then proceed to section thirty-two, where the nearest airlock is!" Raynor said, looking grim about it all. Goku seemed to snap out of his frozen state and followed the others quickly. A few minutes later a loud beeping came in, signaling that the shields were gone. The laser fire ceased momentarily, long enough for Raynor to flip off Duke when another surrender call came over the line.

"Damnit, are they out there yet?" Raynor asked with impatience.

"Scans show nothing has left the ship sir, probably still putting on the space suits!" Butler said. His station soon sparked on a really nasty sounding laser beam hit, sending him to the ground in surprise.

"Damn it all, get ready to move the ship! Set a collision course for the Norad Three!" Raynor ordered. Some of the Protoss glanced up in surprise, but minded their stations.

"Captain Raynor, maneuvering thrusters not responding. Aft ATA weapons have been destroyed and half of the forward laser banks have been blown up as well!" Butler announced from a different station.

"Can we power up the Yamato Cannon? Surely that can give Duke something to think about!" Raynor suggested.

Butler quickly responded, "No, it may require more power than we currently have. Most of that energy is being used to supply the plasma shields!"

"Shit, hope no one minds if I enable the auto-destruct sequence, we'd take at least some of them out!"

"I'm getting a reading on Vegeta and the others, they have just left the ship!" Artanis shouted quickly.

"On screen!" Raynor ordered. The screen was starting to be a bit distorted, but it clearly showed the Saiyans spreading out around the ship, firing energy blasts at the Dominion ships. The smaller aircraft didn't stand up to the hits, but the larger ones took them without much difficulty. The laser fire redirected to the Saiyans, who powered up to fly out of the way of them. Almost all of the lasers missed, their targeting computers no easy match for a Saiyan's agility. Laser fire and ki blasting continued, and the Dominion ships kept pressing, getting to the point where at least fifty or so different cannons were locked onto each Saiyan. The ki blasts had little effect on the armor of the battleships, and none of the Saiyans had enough time to stall and fire off a bigger attack. Most of the smaller flyers got wiped out quickly, but this caused the attention to be turned from the bigger targets. When a vast majority of the firing stopped in one particular spot, Gohan sighed with relief. He shouldn't have, because an incredibly volatile beam shot out a few seconds later, right towards Bardock.

"Grandpa!" Gohan shouted, heading for him. Bardock had been partially hit with what the Terrans referred to as the Yamato cannon. He had dodged most of it, but not enough to keep from being hit. Bardock spat up blood into his helmet, the Yamato beam had burned a hole in the suit and burned a large chunk in his abdominal area underneath the suit. Luckily for Bardock, the space suit was made to withstand high temperatures, otherwise most of it would have been gone. Unfortunately, Saiyan skin didn't seem to stand up to it that well. He stopped moving a few seconds later, drifting around a bit as Gohan flew towards him. He placed his grandfather carefully over his shoulder and began flying back towards the ship, before seeing that a majority of the Dominion ships were locked onto them.

"Surrender now and you may yet live past today!" Duke's voice came over the speakers outside. Vegeta and Goku were back to back firing ki blasts, but stopped when they heard this.

"Why are you doing this, what did we do to you?!" Gohan shouted at the much larger Norad Three.

"You had better hurry up and declare surrender! Your comrade is not likely to survive the next few minutes!" Duke announced. Gohan cringed, knowing how true that statement was as he covered the hole in Bardock's suit. He wanted to send a big Kamehameha wave at Duke's ship, but he was more concerned with saving his grandfather at the moment. A loud explosion tipped his head to the right, but Vegeta and his father were not the cause of it. A few ships on the tail end of the armada had exploded.

"Wait a sec, we didn't fire those, and the ship couldn't have," Gohan said as he turned around. A large green energy beam smashed into the bow of another capitol ship, cutting right through it and going into the next three. Gohan flew up a little higher to see around the Hyperion. What he saw made his jaw drop in shock. It was Verto, and he was not wearing any sort of spacesuit.

**-**

To say I was surprised when I found myself alive was an understatement. I had panicked for obvious reasons but I had also thought up a quick plan. If Goku or Gohan could sense me powered up in space, they could teleport me back to the ship as long as they weren't too far away. When I powered up to Super Mystic, some sort of air went through my nose and down my throat, giving me oxygen to breathe. Where it came from though, I had no clue. There was but stars and debris around in the black vacuum. I figured it out quickly though; I now had the ability to survive in outer space when I was powered up. I could literally feel my own energy creating air around myself in a bubble of about ten feet in each direction. The air that was created was somewhat soothing in my panicked state. I noted that it was rather cold in the blackness of space, but my power kept me very warm by comparison. _Okay, so I can breathe in space now. Nice to know, now what the hell happened?_ I glanced around the wreckage that I woke up in, noting it had to be parts of Raynor's ship. It wasn't enough to be the whole thing, unless all of it blew up and I had gotten lucky. I spotted my chest plate armor floating around and flew over to put it on. I retrieved my gloves soon after and scanned around as far as I could for any and all energy signals. I picked up Gohan and the other Saiyans powering up a few minutes later. _Great, they're in a battle, but since I can breath I can just fly there, hopefully they aren't too far. _They were a pretty good distance from where I was, no doubt because the ship was moving so fast, but still in my sensing range because of their higher levels. I blasted off towards them, moving at top speed. It was about ten to fifteen minutes before I saw anything except stars. I was flying hard, but luckily it wasn't a huge pull on my energy. I saw a laser and ki blast firefight going on with the Hyperion and other battleships that resembled the Terran Dominion's. _So that is who it is, must be Duke again. He better not hurt my friends or there will be hell to pay!_ I thought angrily.

Once I got within a good sight range to see the other Saiyans despite their constant flying around, I noted that they had on space suits of some kind. Then I saw a very large laser beam shoot out of one of the battle cruisers, and felt Bardock's signal plummet an instant later. He wasn't dead, but he would be if I didn't act. I snarled loudly and fired a big mixed energy beam at the first few ships I saw on the Hyperion's left side. As soon as they blew up, I fired one to the other side, cutting through about four of them before flying into the fray. The ships stopped now that I had their attention. To say Gohan and the others were surprised to see me was another understatement, but an obvious one.

"How in the hell?" I heard Vegeta aloud. I flew over to Gohan and Bardock, removing Gohan's hand as he was covering Bardock's wound.

"Don't Verto, he doesn't have hardly any air to breathe!" he warned as I did.

I stared at him sharply, "He does now!" Gohan tried to ask what I meant until he visibly saw his grandfather choking on his own blood before opening his eyes and gave me his own astonished look.

"Stay still," I ordered, summoning a light mist of mixed energy into his space suit. I ran it through and around his wounds, sealing it and healing it.

Once done I pointed to the ship, "Hold your breath until you get there, I'll take care of these guys!" I said. Bardock didn't need to be told twice and took a long breath of air before flying quickly back to the ship.

"How in the hell can you survive out here boy?" Vegeta asked from directly behind.

"I'll explain later, get back inside the ship!" I ordered again despite looking almost straight up at him. He growled slightly but complied as Goku followed himself and Gohan towards the side of the ship as I turned to the battle ships.

"Back off now, or pay the price!" I warned with a loud voice. I heard Duke's intercom kick on from the lead battle cruiser, hearing his orders of sensor scans and such to figure out how I was breathing in space.

"I remember you from Tarsonis and Char, you destroyed our fleet and our emperor! I didn't think you could survive in space as well, but nevertheless, you will pay for what you have done! All ships, target the boy with all weapons, blow him out of space!" Duke ordered. I instantly sensed the ships turning toward me and a lot of laser cannons lit up from various sections of each ship, including the big ones that I remembered from the battle on Tarsonis. They had wounded Bardock with him being a Super Saiyan, and despite having a much higher power level, I didn't want one hitting me. I quickly crossed both arms in front of me and concentrated on my energy. I spread it out around me in a thick layer using the shield technique I had developed not long ago. The red lasers and missiles came flying out a moment later, pounding my green energy shield, but not breaking it. The barrage of enemy fire continued until all I could see around me was smoke as the missiles clouded both my view and probably theirs. I heard Duke chuckling over his intercom as he ordered Raynor to surrender, saying that their greatest weapon was now dead. I smirked brightly, none of the laser fire had gotten through, not even the smoke. When it cleared, I heard several gasps of shock all at once. I saw a few ships fire again, this time at the Hyperion and striking a section that was already on fire. I growled, I was done with this crap.

I rushed the few ships that were firing on the Hyperion, firing a couple of energy blasts at it. I kept the green blasts much lower in power than I had the previous ones. I recalled from previous encounters that it didn't take a huge amount of power to damage these ships if I could evade them long enough, unless I wanted to kill them all in a flash that is. I hit them well enough for the control of the ships to wane, before seeing many escape pods jettison. I moved on, doing the same with the other ships before the only one left was the Norad Three. Thousands of escape pods left the ships, and headed towards a small planet I spotted in the distance a moment later. Ignoring the harmless pods, I summoned my bright green sword, and swooped towards the right side of the bigger capitol ship. I cut through the outer hull and got inside before a force field turned on to stop the atmosphere inside from leaking out. Alarm klaxons sounded everywhere around me, telling the entire ship about a hull breach and an intruder alert. I entered the hallways of the ship without resistance. I encountered about a dozen uniformed soldiers a few moments later, all of them armed with marine machine guns. I held my sword at a ready position and promptly warned them.

"I'll give you one chance to leave this ship before I destroy it! I suggest you get out of my way!" The marines shook nervously, obviously knowing what I had done to their fleet just minutes ago.

"All security teams, do not allow the boy to get to the bridge!" Duke said through the communication system.

"You had better let me pass and get off of the ship, I'm only giving you one chance to live!" The marines opened fire anyway, their bullets came at me slowly though. I sent a very low-level energy wave at them, knocking them all over while I dodged the bullets with ease.

"That was a warning shot, the next one won't be nearly as weak," I growled. The ones that weren't knocked out then grabbed their comrades and hightailed it in a different direction, obviously getting the picture. As I proceeded down the hallways, I presumed that the bridge of this ship was the same as the Hyperion, I turned out to be right. As I entered the bridge, I found Duke alone on the bridge, but he didn't notice me come in.

"All hands, any of you that abandon this ship will be persecuted by the courts and be banished to the worst work prison I can think of, do not abandon ship!" he shouted to anyone who would listen. I heard several sounds of pods leaving the ship in a big hurry, seeing them a moment later on the viewer.

"Damnit!" he shouted again.

"I told you to stop your attack, the soldiers that escaped were the smart ones, now surrender!" I shouted at him. He jumped at my voice, and visibly shook, I swore I saw a wet spot appear on his uniform below his waist, followed by a stench in the air. _He's so old and afraid that he's losing his bowels_, I thought in disgust. He kneeled and bowed like I was his former Emperor.

"P-p-please spare me. I didn't mean for this to happen!" he said with clear-cut nervousness.

"Patch me through to the Hyperion!" I ordered. He looked at me like I was insane, until I charged an energy blast with his name on it in my non-sword hand.

"Are you deaf or something? Patch me in!" I repeated. He quickly complied, punching buttons at what must have been the communication station as quickly as he could. Raynor's face appeared a moment later, before everyone on the other bridge all stared at me in surprise.

"The ship is clear of his soldiers. If you guys want a ship that isn't so beat up, then transfer over. We only need to repair the small part of the ship that I cut open!" I said with a grin.

"You can't steal my ship!" Duke argued. He shut up when I looked at him like he was begging for death.

"On the other hand, I am feeling generous today," he muttered, putting his hands back up.

"Will do, but we're going to repair this ship as well. Two capitol ships might come in handy later on!" Raynor said, nodding towards Artanis and the others.


	47. Encounters

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 46: Encounters**

"Please, let me live!" General Duke continued to beg after some of the others boarded the Norad Three.

"Only if you shut up!" I shouted back, prompting him to do so.

"What will we do with him?" Gohan asked. Vegeta and Artanis had come over with him via Instant Transmission, and were currently staring down at the whining General.

"I say we rip his heart out, or perhaps blast all of his fingers and toes off! Possibly make a fertilizer out of him for the in-law woman's flowers, it smells like he may be useful at that!" Vegeta suggested. I shook my head, not wanting to kill anyone unless I absolutely had to, besides, this man wasn't completely evil. Neither were his soldiers, and I felt guilty about some of the ones that had died, but that was why I let the others escape.

"I want you to send a distress call back to wherever their capitol world is, and tell them that you and your soldiers are stranded on that planet over there. I will be standing right here until you finish the transmission. Should you tell your forces to track us down by any means, Vegeta here will decide your fate! And he isn't as forgiving as I am!" I warned Duke, who looked like he was ready to shit his pants again. Duke quickly nodded with serious amounts of sweat pouring off of him.

"Priority one distress call, General Duke Alpha Squadron flagship Norad Three. Alien forces have overrun our fleet and we are stranded on an uncharted planet on the outskirts of the sector! Request anyone listening in from Korhal to dispatch a rescue ship immediately to these coordinates, Duke out!" he said under nervous tension.

"Good job general. Gohan, could you and Artanis escort the general to his escape pod?" I asked.

"No problem," Gohan said.

"Oh, and put it in auto-pilot if you can, make it land as far away from his other forces as possible! See if you can program it to self-destruct if any sort of attempt is made to change its course!" I said as they walked to the elevator shaft.

"Pity you've retained a merciful streak. I think he and the Ginyu frog would have become good dance partners," Vegeta noted as the nervous general left the bridge. A number of Protoss and Terran officers had also been teleported over from the other ship, checking things over all over the ship. I recognized one of them to be Raynor's tactical officer Butler.

"It's going to take about a day to get the Hyperion going again. They battered the hull armor and engines pretty bad, but nothing that can't be repaired. The Protoss shield generators were shorted out though, they said that they wouldn't be able to repair them. The sliced part of the hull on this ship can be sealed off and ignored, it shouldn't affect the rest of our journey," Butler explained to me. Vegeta growled slightly as everyone was looking to me like I had taken charge of the whole operation.

"How long do we have to get there now?" I asked.

"About two weeks left in the trip. This ship could probably make it in ten days because the engine is a bit more advanced, but I suggest we repair the other one first and travel together!" Butler said.

I nodded slightly, "Make it as fast as humanly possible. If you need help ask Gohan or Bardock to help, they're pretty good with the brainy stuff. We can't afford to fall behind more than a day or two!" Butler nodded to me and contacted the other ship to confer with Raynor about repairs.

Vegeta took me aside on the bridge for a more private conversation, "You would indeed make a better leader here than Kakarot, but don't supercede me like that again. You are still a child no matter how strong you are!"

I grinned slightly, "They asked me what to do, and I only did the grunt work!"

Vegeta chuckled slightly, "That point aside, explain how you were able to survive in space!"

"Something with my mixed energy generated air to breathe, I really can't explain it. It was just there when I powered up to Super Mystic. It's not a big area of it, but its enough for anyone within a few feet to be able to breathe as well. It's partially how I saved Bardock," I explained.

"At least Kakarot can't do the same yet," Vegeta grumbled as he walked away. I allowed myself to laugh a little, Vegeta's jealously of my power was very obvious, but he didn't seem to mind as long as he kept up with Goku.

-

Another day passed slowly as the twin ships hovered in space. We had maneuvered the Norad Three above the Hyperion, so that a few hatches could be matched up and connected together. I entered a conference room on the Hyperion as Vegeta had summoned me. Seated at a long table were the two high Templars Tassadar and Artanis. Raynor, his officer Butler, and another human officer that I didn't know sat across from them. Vegeta stood by the window behind the Protoss. Zeratul and a few of his Dark Templar brethren were also present, but stood in silence on the far side of the room. I took a seat in front Vegeta as he pointed to it.

"We are detecting a Terran fleet being dispatched from Dominion space, but they shouldn't have detected us just yet. Repairs are close to complete; most of the major damage to the Hyperion has been repaired well enough to travel. The portion of the outer hull that was destroyed can be sealed off for now with force fields. It would take an additional three to five days to completely restore it," Butler reported with what looked to be a data pad.

"I do suggest that we leave the area before the other Terran forces discover our position, however traveling with a broken ship may be hazardous because of the increased possibility of a power failure while traveling in hyperspace," Artanis said with concern.

Raynor shook his head slightly, "It isn't preferred, but these battle cruisers can travel in hyperspace with more damage than this. Believe me I've done it many times! Besides we can't spend any more time here!" I snorted slightly, Raynor was eager to roll the dice.

"As unwise as it is, Captain Raynor is correct. While the ship should be repaired fully to safely proceed, we do not have the time to delay! I estimate that the Zerg may have arrived on Auir by now, and our delay only increases the chance that our people will be wiped out before we can get there! We also can't afford to get the Terran Dominion's attention again now that it has been averted for the time being! I agree that we should take this chance while we have it. To delay our arrival to Auir may make things worse than they already are!" Tassadar suggested.

All eyes turned to me suddenly, "Verto, what do you think?" Artanis asked.

"Why are you asking me?" I countered.

"You did manage to save the ship and the rest of us. Also, you understand Zerg tactics better than anyone of us based on your time with them. We would like your input on what you think we should do," Tassadar said in a kinder tone. _Guess that's why I was asked here, because I understand the Zerg to an extent._ I thought about it for a moment while twiddling my thumbs slightly.

"The Overmind is not always predictable, but based on what I've heard and learned during my time on Char, he has prepared for this invasion for a very long time. No doubt that your forces and technology will stall him a bit despite having that Broly clone on his side. He knows that it will take awhile to take the planet over, and his best strategy of grinding down your people should allow us the time we need to get there. But I also don't think we should delay any more than we have to. I think we should put most of the crew and supplies on the Norad Three and only enough people to run the Hyperion and travel together. If we have a break down, we can then evacuate to the Norad more quickly and leave the Hyperion behind. That's what I think anyway," I said calmly, watching everyone's eyes. Most of them seemed to agree with this suggestion.

"It's settled then, but who will pilot this ship?" Artanis asked.

"You and most of the crew should take the Norad Three. Myself and Kline here will take a few men and pilot the Hyperion. That way if we break down you can kick up the speed on the Norad and get to Auir sooner. We can handle getting it repaired and meet you there, I've done it before!" Raynor said. Most everyone nodded in agreement, though there was something about this guy Kline that I didn't trust. I hadn't seen his face very much, but something about him was familiar. As the Terrans and Protoss got up to discuss things, I saw him lock eyes with me in a glaring contest. Though I didn't give him much of a stare down, he kept his seemingly angry stare directed at me for some reason. Then he suddenly left the room, saying to Raynor that he was going to check on the engine status.

"Does that human concern you?" Vegeta whispered behind me.

"Not really, but there is something about him that I've seen before, I don't trust him," I replied.

I went back to my new room on the Norad and thought about this a bit as we got underway. As I did my senses picked up on something else much farther ahead of us. It was a power struggle between two largely powerful forces. They were much too faint and far to recognize anything about them, but the collision concerned me to say the least. I had a pretty good idea what might be the cause of it. And as was prone to happen, I was right.

**Interlude 46.1 –Auir-**

"_Make way my children, plow your way to the surface around the remains of the Xel'Naga temple. It is there that our great conquest of the Protoss will begin!"_ The Overmind ordered his broods. The Super Hive kept in motion directly towards the surface of Auir. A lot of Protoss ships had come to repel them, but not enough as the swarms overwhelmed them. Broly and another brood had been sent to the surface a few hours before the Zerg officially arrived, to clear the way. The small amounts of Protoss around the temple were demolished very quickly, along with the temple. The Overmind had chosen to have the temple obliterated to access the old nexus of energies that surrounded it when he made his landing. The rock hard Super Hive broke apart as it crashed through the atmosphere, colliding with the ground. The Overmind drove its huge tentacles into the ground around it, almost exactly centered with the temple remains, only bigger. Protoss warriors and tribes all over the planet felt the resulting earthquake, and began to mobilize accordingly. The Zerg spread out quickly from the Overmind, far enough to establish their own hive clusters with their different broods, six in all. The forces of Daggoth's brood then advanced on the nearest Protoss cities, intent to destroy them. The other Zerg forces began to work on spawning a large force and an even larger defense for the Overmind.

Broly laughed like a maniac as he obliterated another Protoss strike force with a strong ki wave. They had underestimated him and were foolish enough to keep a tight formation when they flew into the area that he was in. He had been simply on guard while the Overmind was still in the landing stage, listening for more orders to destroy something. His bloodthirsty ways had been enhanced a great deal, but toned enough to where he would listen to his master. Truly a beast on a leash, and more than ready to lash out at his enemies. Before the Protoss showed up, his mind had been in flashback mode, remembering the way his life was shortly before his death. He had a nearly complete memory of what happened, however the mind warping job by the Overmind had restored his older destructive habits. Broly didn't mind either, he felt more alive when he was killing those in his way rather than protecting them. He had been told that the original Broly was killed on Earth, but he couldn't remember exactly how. In the early stages of reawakening, he had asked about this, but was told that the Saiyans abandoned him during a battle with the Zerg. That part of his memory missing began to plague him, not knowing how his life ended ate away at his insides. He didn't care that he was a more powerful clone than the original, his pride of how he died was more important at the time. While hearing that the Saiyans that he might call friends had betrayed him had very much erased the most of this, he still looked back to it when he was not doing anything. He floated high above the ground and meditated slightly, trying to recall everything so far. He was interrupted by the Overmind's telepathic call.

"_Broly, my son. You will proceed eastward to the place the Protoss call Scion. Proceed to the temple in the capitol of the province with part of Daggoth's ilk. Annihilate all Protoss you encounter and remain there for further orders!"_ Broly opened his eyes once again and smiled wickedly as he lifted off.

-

"High Executor, the Overmind and the entire swarm has invaded Auir. The nearest city of Antioch is under siege by Zerg forces! The nearby Province of Scion has reported a Zerg force heading their way as well!" an aid reported to Aldaris in his office.

"Mobilize all Protoss forces to engage the Zerg from wherever they might be around Auir, we will show the Overmind that it will not simply walk onto our planet and claim victory!"

"What about the Zerg controlled humanoid that we have encountered near the temples of old? His power is like nothing we have ever seen before! He obliterated an entire fleet of our forces in a very short amount of time!" the aid said with a nervous gesture.

Aldaris' eyes lit up with joy, "So he has brought the boy to Auir as well? This time I will break his will to fight before I slaughter him and the Zerg alike!" Aldaris laughed loudly, assuming that he knew what Saiyan the aid was talking about.

He kept up his laughter, "Inform the scientists that I will be taking the Saiyan and dealing with the boy myself!" Aldaris said as he began to walk out of the chamber.

"Our reports say it wasn't a child!" the aid said, only to be drowned out by Aldaris' laughter.

"Oh dear," he said, as Aldaris continued to laugh while leaving the area.

-

Broly enjoyed himself while plowing through the Scion province. He let the Zerg draw the Protoss to him, and then allowed them to believe that he was much weaker than he was. Every Protoss warrior was killed with his bare hands, no matter what size or shape. He even destroyed whatever air support they had in the same way by either crushing a smaller scout or an interceptor. He even flew right through a larger troop carrier several times, but they weren't as much fun as the infantry troops were. The Protoss that realized that his power was much more than they could handle had gone into hiding in the main temple, trying to set traps to throw the large Saiyan off. While none of these traps actually worked, it amused Broly while he trudged through their Nexus temple. Not one of the Protoss warriors escaped his grasp, but not many died quickly either. All of them were left suffering where they lay, dying very slowly. Only the probes were killed quickly, because they were machines and nothing else. The Zealots were given more of a quick death without a large amount of suffering, only because Broly respected their courage to fight him. The more cautious and at times fearful Templars didn't receive the same courtesy, and he left them with the knowledge that it may take up to two full days for them to finally die due to their injuries. The Dragoons were mostly machines as it was, their life support systems failed within about five to ten minutes by default after Broly was done mauling them. While the Templars attempted to subdue him with their Psi Storms and elude him with their phantoms, but all it did was earn them a faster death. The Psi Storms phased him just a bit, but it required the Templars to stay still to channel the effect, meaning an easy target for a ki blast.

As the Zerg began to start up a hive cluster nearby, Broly swept the rest of the temple, not blowing it up right away. He preferred to kill off all the Protoss first, just to know that he had got them all. While in the catacombs of the temple, he came across the Protoss equivalent to Earth hieroglyphics. He saw many symbols about the Protoss and eventually the Zerg. He observed what looked to be a prophecy about the Zerg and the Overmind. He saw a large symbol with tentacles representing the Overmind, with a smaller but large looking man standing on top of it with a star like aura. He assumed that this must have meant him. He read on despite not knowing the language, coming to a smaller humanoid picture with a tail, meaning a Saiyan. The Saiyan picture was standing before the Overmind with a sparkling sword in his hand. The following set of symbols were blurred out, like they had been erased or perhaps tampered with on purpose. Broly quit paying attention when he sensed a high power level heading his way. His gaze to the ceiling gave way to a focused look, it was not a recognizable ki signal. Being infused with Zerg genes gave him the ability to sense Psi emissions but not measurable levels of it. He sensed a large aura of Psi around this signal, and an order to find it was soon on its way as he walked back up through the temple in silence.

-

"Great Aldaris, we are approaching the capitol of Scion, but I am not receiving their beacon signal. I am detecting a large number of Zerg nearby, recommend we call for reinforcements!" the pilot of Aldaris' shuttle suggested. Aldaris grinned slightly, sensing a bit of the Zerg, but also the high power level ahead.

"That will not be necessary pilot, you will land near the main nexus as ordered. The Zerg are not going to be a problem, isn't that right Shugesh?" Aldaris asked as he turned his head. Shugesh walked forward, his partially mechanical head shined from the light of Auir's sunlight as the shuttle descended.

"Yes master," he grumbled, staring with a blank look out the window.

"His lack of personality is, intimidating, Great One," the pilot said, shaking a little.

"That it is, however his lack of emotion fits his purpose. His species was born to be killing machines, and it is this bloodlust that will win us the war against the Zerg without sacrificing the lives of our superior race. Let inferior beings fight each other while the more civilized take the reigns. Think of it like the older wars in the Terran sector, when their battles could be won with the push of a button," Aldaris smiled.

"What if he should be killed in the process?" the pilot asked.

"Fear not young Templar. My powers are greater now than any the Overmind has encountered, including these Saiyans. I will deal with them if the situation calls for it!" Aldaris answered. A few more minutes passed by in silence until they saw the new Zerg base being formed on the surface. The shuttle landed and the ramp dropped, allowing Aldaris and the mind controlled Saiyan to exit the ship.

"There are your enemies Shugesh, go dispose of them my faithful servant!" Aldaris pointed at the Zerg. He covered his eyes slightly as Shugesh powered up to his maximum in Super Saiyan two form; and then grinned while his disciple started tearing up the Zerg with thunderous punches and energy blasts. He walked slowly onto the grounds before hovering over the land as Shugesh literally tore apart the Zerg base. In only a few minutes, the multitude of the Zerg forces were dead. This amused Aldaris, all that fighting against the Zerg on Earth had made Shugesh more effective against them. As Shugesh continued to blast the Zerg hive structure apart, Aldaris kept his new sensing skills active. Aldaris frowned slightly now, there was still no sign of his expected enemy. He looked towards the battered but still intact temple. The nexus stood in darkness except for the roof where the sun remained shining down. He spotted several Protoss bodies littering the ground nearby, all composed of dead and slowly dying soldiers.

"Great Aldaris, help us!" he heard a few Templars reach out as they fell into the arms of death. He scowled now, these were still his people and he would eliminate whoever stood against them. That aside, he still didn't help them in the way they wanted. He fired quick Psi beams at a few of his subjects, ending their suffering but still a scowl left on his face.

"Weak pathetic fools! Now where is that little runt?"

In the shadows of the temple, Aldaris spotted a darkened figure moving around slowly. It was the high power level he had sensed, and he relaxed knowing that the target was discovered.

"Shugesh, attack the invader of the temple there! He is your new target!" Aldaris pointed.

"Yes Master!" Shugesh said as he took off to attack the figure. The person inside the temple stopped moving as the golden Saiyan charged him. There was a fierce impact, followed by Shugesh flying backwards swiftly with his nose bleeding. Shugesh recovered and flew back, charging a very potent energy blast. He threw it at the newcomer, exploding on contact and taking out half the front door as well as the stairs of the temple. Aldaris scowled, he had wanted the temple intact, but as long as the enemy was defeated it didn't matter to him.

"What do you think of my new disciple boy? Let's see you fight your way out of this one!" he shouted with an evil laugh. His evil laugh was overshadowed by another from the ashes of the ruined nexus, a much more vile one. Aldaris narrowed his eyes, it was not a young boy that was laughing and he knew it right away.

"Reveal yourself, who are you?" Aldaris requested as Shugesh stood in front of him in a fighter's stance.

"I am merely your executioner, Aldaris!" Broly said as he emerged from the smoke.

Aldaris took a step back in surprise, "I've seen your face before, you're one of the Earth Saiyans! But you died in a vain effort to kill off the Zerg! You cannot be here, your body vanished in a great ball of energy!"

"I am not an 'Earth Saiyan!' I find it, disturbing, that you would refer to my greatness in that manner. I am the only Saiyan that matters in this universe! All other Saiyans are a waste of matter compared to me! I am the Legendary Super Saiyan!" Broly declared with a bit of a bow.

Aldaris grimaced slightly, but kept his composure, "If you're anything like I recall, you're even weaker than the child. I was expecting him today, such a shame that you will have to take his place!" Aldaris fired back.

"He already has a place, buried dead in the dirt! A place you shall soon visit!" Broly said, his aura appearing around him. Aldaris watched and waited as the green ki energy seemed to rip Broly apart, but it in fact expanded his size and his power level. He allowed himself to blink in surprise as Broly's ultimate form, noting that he was easily twice as big now. But what really scared Aldaris was Broly's lack of colored eyes, nothing but white and golden eyebrows remained.

"Shugesh, show this false legend who he's dealing with!" Aldaris ordered. Broly frowned slightly as the mind controlled Super Saiyan rushed at him.

"You would make a mockery of our race by eliminating his free will and hiding behind him, a true mark of a coward!" Broly said as he blocked the Saiyan's punch easily. He grabbed Shugesh by the head and kicked him several times but didn't allow him to be knocked away. He pounded the Saiyan into submission, his hair and eyes turning back to black. He tore off a few of the attachments to his head, then rose into the air and launched the unconscious Shugesh into the distance, sensing him land near the Overmind's area several hundred miles away.

"Now he will serve a greater purpose! Are you ready to face yours Templar?" Broly asked with a nasty grin.

"You'll have to force me," Aldaris said with a deeper scowl, shedding his royal like robes and head dressings. His short Protoss hair stood up on end and brightened into a silver color as a bright blue aura surrounded him. Both warriors' auras clashed with each other as they both powered up to their maximum power level. On one side, the golden Ki power of Broly's destructive legacy. On the other, Aldaris' blue Psionic flow of power hungry ambition. The only question left was who would prevail?

**A/N: Place your bets on this fight. This one will certainly be explosive!**


	48. Ice Cold

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 47: Ice Cold**

"Allow me to show you the greatest power in the universe, that of the true Saiyan!" Broly shouted as he flew towards Aldaris.

"You are quite mistaken! It is I that will show you!" Aldaris fired back, but standing his ground. Broly flew straight towards him until he hit an invisible wall of energy. He punched at it a few times, keeping an angry glare locked on Aldaris.

"Hiding behind a shield you old fool?" Broly asked.

"If you want to call it that, but then you brutes never seem very smart once your in battle!" Aldaris said, igniting his shield with a small hand movement. Instantly blots of Psi energy emerged from it and shocked Broly, causing him to stop his attack while the lightning stunned him. Aldaris kept this up until Broly dropped to one knee, smiling evilly while this happened. He let up on the Psi storm attack once he saw Broly breathing a little harder.

"You cannot defeat my superior powers Saiyan, I suggest you make it easy on yourself!" Aldaris suggested.

He heard Broly laughing a few seconds later, "You think you have me beat with a tiny little storm?" Broly jumped back and fired a small but powerful ki blast at Aldaris, who just stood there. It smacked against the shield with a bright explosion, shredding the ground away underneath it. Aldaris floated there while watching the ground was crumbling beneath, still with his shield shimmering in the daylight. Broly chuckled a bit more, firing three more of similar caliber. The first two bounced off of the shield, but the last one went right through it and straight at its target. Aldaris' eyes widened with surprise, barely dodging out of the way while the blast exploded behind him.

"How did you do that? Blast it, I must not have applied enough energy to deflect it!" Aldaris growled.

Broly laughed harder, "You think your puny shield is going to block against everything I throw at you? I dare you to try it now!" Broly then started charging something big in his right hand. Aldaris floated backwards a few feet in nervous tension, having a feeling that the last attack was going to seem miniscule. He saw Broly arch back slightly, seeing his eyes leave him for a moment. Aldaris smiled slightly as the Saiyan was ready to fire, and concentrated on himself for a moment before moving out of the path.

"Omega Blaster!" Broly shouted, firing the big green and yellow blast at Aldaris. The blast hit and charged itself into a much larger ball before exploding, leaving a bigger crater behind.

"That will teach you not to underestimate a Saiyan!" Broly laughed. A thin blue beam smashed into his shoulder suddenly. He turned to see who had done it, only to get a few dozen of the same, enough to knock him down and leave his bare chest smoking and bleeding in a few spots. He spotted Aldaris standing about fifty feet behind him, with a single finger outstretched.

"You didn't really think I was foolish enough to stand there and let you hit me with that, did you?" Aldaris asked, firing several more thin Psi beams at Broly. They bounced off a ki shield a moment later, which then shrank away into another small and potent blast. Broly let it charge there for a moment, deciding what he was going to do. He finally tossed it at the older Templar, before diverting it away and letting it hover over a nearby Templar, who was still alive. Aldaris glanced over, and then looked back at Broly who had a nasty grin on his face as he let it fall. The Templar vanished in a heartbeat, leaving only a smoking hole in the ground.

"What do you think? Wasn't he pathetic?" Broly asked, trying to get under Aldaris' nerves.

"Most of my people are pathetic and weak, you probably did me a favor. I'm surprised you would waste your time with them if your power is so great," Aldaris said with a calm tone, reversing Broly's hopes.

"You've got it wrong, all of your people are pathetic just as you are! With just a handful of useless little tricks, you don't deserve to face me. It's time for you to lie dead at my feet!" Broly declared, jumping backwards to a nearby hill. Aldaris stood tall, waiting to see what he would do.

Broly launched another powerful Omega Blaster at Aldaris, who returned fire with a bigger Psi beam directed by both hands, much like a Kamehameha. The collision ball was big and green, wavering to either side before pushing back towards Aldaris. Aldaris frowned, releasing and focusing more energy, pushing back against it. Broly returned the favor by releasing another blast, sending it back to Aldaris again.

"Argh, how is this Saiyan so powerful?" he muttered as he summoned more and more power. He was already using more than he thought was necessary to destroy him, only making him madder. His blue aura glowed bright as he continued to pour energy into his energy beam, barely pushing to a stalemate. He could hear Broly laughing again, and decided to add a new factor to this battle by releasing the small amount of ki energy he possessed and pulling back on his Psi. The beam turned bright green as it filtered into the air to the collision. Aldaris got the surprise of a lifetime when Broly's big ki ball suddenly rushed down to meet him. He swore he didn't sense him release another blast, figuring he must have just cut too much power to his own Psi beam. He used his power to turn more of his energy into ki before releasing more to the point where he was firing the same amount of ki and Psi into the beam. He knew from his fight with Verto that mixed energy was potentially greater than the original two. At first it began to push back towards Broly, but then it stopped cold and plunged towards him without a bit of resistance once Broly fired another round. Aldaris quickly cut off his power and moved away just as the energy ball got there. The resulting explosion liberated him of his artificial leg, but only that. He smashed into the side of a hill, stunned to say the least as he blinked a few times before the pain finally registered.

_How? I used the mixed power of Psi and ki that the boy is so good with. I used a lot of energy on both sides, it should have turned the tide of things to my favor._ Aldaris reexamined himself, again knowing that he had much less ki energy than he did Psi energy. Then the answer hit him like he should have known it.

_Oh of course, how could I be so blind? Since I have much less ki, I have to lower my Psi energy for the mixture to work properly and double the power. Transforming the Psi into ki wastes energy in this case. But my own Psi energy is greater than that silly combination. No wonder the boy defeated me, my own ki energy is useless!_ Aldaris was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice Broly come in for a sneak attack. BAM! The forearm burrowed Aldaris into the mountainside, while Broly laughed at him some more.

"Is that all you've got you old codger? A few amateur moves and you're done already? I thought you were going to show me something? You did, but only that you are a true piece of trash!" Aldaris fumed at this as he coughed up his own blood and powered up his blue aura before releasing a stronger amount of Psi energy into the air as Broly backed off of him. He felt that his rib area was smashed into his internal organs, and began to lose feeling in his legs. He didn't care though, he was going to take the Saiyan down now, even if it killed him. Broly continued to laugh at this while Aldaris watched him float away before slowly surrounding him with the energy and letting it float around. Broly didn't seem to notice until Aldaris snapped his fingers. Blue lightning struck Broly from the air with undying fury. Aldaris' aura kept going, adding power to the Psi storm. Broly plummeted to the ground out of control, but the lightning bolts followed him there and continued. Broly continued to moan and groan while the storm started to churn through his body and out the other side, zapping his energy as his body received more damage. Aldaris flew up to him as the lightning continued non-stop, a murderous look in his glowing eyes while his now shortened leg bled a little more. Broly's size began to shrink a bit as he lost his ultimate form with new wounds making themselves present despite the Zerg cells all over him. Soon Aldaris focused his energy storm onto the Zerg cells, burning them off before putting the focus back on Broly's whole body. The lightning bolts became larger in width and began to leave holes where they struck. Broly coughed and groaned, but managed to laugh a little more.

"Still relying on your tricks to defeat a true warrior? I dare you to let me get up!" Broly said, trying to get up but getting pounded to the ground. He managed to gather a big ki blast into his hand, punch it into the ground and point it at the ground beneath Aldaris' feet, but not firing it yet. Aldaris continued to look on with full intent on finishing Broly with this one attack. Broly could tell that he was going to lose now, the Psi lightning hitting him was getting bigger and more painful by the moment.

"It doesn't matter what you do, I will live forever!" Broly laughed, firing another ki blast from the other hand. Aldaris' shield deflected it shortly before the lightning bolts increased in number and potency. Broly felt his body giving out and powered the last bit of ki into his other buried hand. He grinned as he managed to pull his head up just as a much larger Psi bolt struck him through the heart.

"Die!" Aldaris shouted as eyes glowed when he pulled that final Psi bolt down from the air above them. Then he saw Broly's other arm glowing for a second. The ground underneath his feet shook, and in an instant, he knew. He managed to jump a bit before a huge green ki beam shot out of the ground, going through the shield and making everything from the smashed ribs down to his feet vanish before shooting into the sky. He groaned loudly as he dropped to the ground a hundred feet away from the large hole in the ground. He felt his insides start to spill out and drag behind with a lot of his blood as he tried to crawl. Aldaris struggled to even move his arms, but did manage to push a small button on his metallic wrist. Instantly his shuttle came alive and landed nearby, the pilot emerging. He was pulled onto the safety of the shuttle as it took off and flew off to the nearest medical facility. Life support was attached while Aldaris stared at the wall, amazed at what had happened. He wasn't worried about dying, or having artificial implants again. His face twisted into a scowl, knowing full well that he could have prevented the Saiyan from doing it and foolishly thought that he couldn't even move. He knew deep down that he would see Broly again, if the Overmind could bring him back from nothing, he could certainly bring him back from that. His surprise appearance had thrown Aldaris off of his plans, he hadn't known what to expect at all from the Super Saiyan, and some of that fear prevented him from fighting with his brain. _That's the last time I underestimate a Saiyan. When I face you again Broly, you will die quickly!_

-

**A/N: Aldaris won, but should we call it a draw?**

-

I snapped out of meditation when another powerful surge in energy hit my senses. It had most certainly come from Auir, involving those two powers I partially sensed before. Someone had won that battle, but it was impossible to tell whom yet. I felt no other disturbances, so I figured that both must have been at least damaged. We were traveling at warp speed on the Norad Three, though I could sense that the Hyperion wasn't far behind. A beep came at my door, signaling there was someone there.

"Come in," I said calmly. Zeratul walked in with a grim expression, but that was nothing new.

"I have a final technique to teach you today, a relatively simple one now that you have gotten used to the others. It is a technique designed to capture, or imprison another being, primarily an evil one. The intent is to prevent this lost soul from moving around to commit harm to himself or others. It is called the Stasis Field," he said, sitting across from me.

"I think you used it on me at one point, it sounds familiar," I said, not moving.

"I have, but you broke out of it. It was proven useless when you were able to power out of it and nullify the effect with minimal effort. Broly broke out of it quickly as well," he explained.

"Then why are you going to teach it to me if it's useless against some enemies that I fight? Won't they simply power up to get out of it?" I asked.

"First of all, it is my deal to instruct you in our ways. When I first approached Vegeta about your training, our agreement was finalized when I agreed to teach you everything. You have passed all tests that I doubted you could easily perform. Secondly, the Stasis technique may come in handy some day. There are other ways to use it besides just restricting the movement of another, keep that in mind! Even if it seems useless over time, slowing down the opponents you're used to fighting can vastly change the outcome of your fight," he said in a scolding voice.

"Okay, just wondering," I said.

"The idea behind this ability is simple, use your Psi energy to surround an opponent like you would a Psi Storm. But this time you will literally place this energy around him and connect it together, holding it there instead of sending charges of energy at him. Keep adding energy until there is a stable and restricted field of Psi that is completely around your opponent, and keep it held there with him stuck inside. You will likely see a special kind of ice appear around your enemy as you do this, and it may even seem a little colder in the air due to the water vapor freezing and the air molecules slowing down or stopping. Add energy until the ice is completely formed around your enemy, the entire process should only take a few seconds. Once done, do what is necessary. Most enemies will freeze into a coma like state within five minutes unless the field is removed. No energy will easily penetrate this wall of ice except for pure Psi energy. But that doesn't mean it can block against a planet destroying power beam. I would think it would block against most of them, but beware the more powerful energy blasts, now try it out on me!" he ordered again.

I gave him a blank stare, but complied, surrounding him with my Psi as I powered up a bit. Nothing happened at first, until I did as he said and started to picture my energy falling together like invisible building blocks around him. The room's temperature became noticeably colder as I continued to build the strong field of Psi around Zeratul, careful not to ignite it like the Psi storm with sudden movement. I opened my eyes once and saw that there were icicles hanging from his raggy cloak.

"You're doing it, a little further!" Zeratul urged. I could hear him shivering a little, meaning I was doing it right. I continued to piece together the lock of Psionic Ice, most of it was complete. I added layers of thin Psi onto it, strengthening the unmoving field of energy, until I no longer heard Zeratul breathing. I opened my eyes back up to see a thick blue piece of ice sitting there in Zeratul's place. It looked like a collection of crystals, like a stalactite sticking up from the ground. I stopped adding energy now, seeing that Zeratul was inside and frozen.

"Great, now how to I melt it without blowing up the ship?" I asked aloud. No answer came from the Ice cluster, not that I expected one. I hovered a few feet and pulled slightly at the top of the ice chunk where I could get my hand around it. Nothing happened. I punched at it with a little bit more effort, again nothing. I scowled a bit, this ice was tough. _He said that pure Psi could penetrate it, kind of like my feedback technique, that's pure hearted in intent! _I gathered a small white Psi blast in my hand, keeping positive thoughts in order and firing it straight at the Zeratul ice block. It passed through without a hitch, and then passed out the other side quickly. I stared sharply at the ice block while the feedback technique bounced off the wall and dissipated. Nothing happened, it went right through the ice and Zeratul. _Duh, he's pure hearted just like I am, but why didn't it affect the ice? Doh, the ice doesn't have any evil to feed off of, its just solid energy, and to be more specific its my energy. _I stood up and sighed, summoning my sword with nothing but good and cautious thoughts behind it. I stabbed forward on the side, trying to cut off a small slice of it so he could breath while I broke up the rest of it. I was stunned to see my sword slice a solid chunk out, no air was directly beneath it, and from what I could tell, not even in a small layer around his body.

_Oh great, I'm gonna end up hurting him._ I tried a small ki beam to melt the frozen prison, only to see it hit and do nothing. I increased the amount of energy flowing out and continued to try to cut him out. Nothing, it didn't even polish the ice. I rubbed the spot where my ki beam had hit, feeling a warm spot there. That stunned me for a moment, _since when is Ice ever warm without melting?_ I thought about it for a moment, before mentally slapping myself. I realized again that it wasn't completely made of water or matter, it was made of energy, therefore its properties were different. I sighed and tried to cut a small hole across the top without hitting his head, by pushing my sword through it. It went through and out the other side, just an inch above his head. I again saw there was no air bubble around him, all ice.

"Forgive me Zeratul, I hope this doesn't hurt much," I said as I sliced along his shoulder area. As I cut through, the ice burned away where my sword passed. I came to a portion of his lower arm, seeing his elbow set upwards a little farther in the ice than my sword was. The fact that he wasn't a human prevented me from just cutting around it. I kept focused and closed my eyes, knowing I was going to have to cut through to get him out. It was better to cut off an arm than cut out off a head, it was going to be way to hard to cut around. I held my breath and swung quickly, hearing the whoosh of my sword followed by ice coming apart and crunching against the ground. When I opened my eyes again, I was very shocked to see his elbow was still there, but the ice around it was gone, right where I cut through. I pulled on it a bit, making sure it wasn't just stuck there. It wasn't just stuck there, it was attached and there was no wound at all. I stepped backwards in surprise, looking at my sword in surprise.

_How could that have happened? I know I cut right through him. I didn't want to have to, but I know I did it. Unless… it's my pure Psi energy. _I stopped for a moment, knowing that I had never sliced someone with the sword except for infested Borgos, who had enough evil intent to fill up a continent. _My sword can be just like the Feedback technique; it can't hurt anyone if they and I have pure and good thoughts. The only one that I ever truly hit with it was Borgos, and he was as evil as it gets._ I smiled slightly and started slicing away at the ice block without caution. I passed through every part of it and Zeratul as well, watching most of the ice chunks fall right off. Again no wounds or slash marks appeared on Zeratul, he was completely unharmed. Some was still stuck to his skin, but was easily removed with the edge of my sword.

"I see you have begun to understand why it is so important to keep positive thoughts when using your Psionic power. That is enough for today, you shouldn't need a whole lot of practice with this technique to master it. I want you to rest now, for tomorrow we will work on something you will probably be more comfortable with," Zeratul said as he slowly rose. He seemed a little stiff, understandably so as he walked out the door.

**Power levels:**

**Mind Controlled Shugesh (SS2): 420,000,000**

**Infested Broly (Ultra form): 730,000,000**

**Super Aldaris (Psi only): 650,000,000**

**A/N: I meant to write out a longer Aldaris/Broly fight, but there wouldn't have been much of a point to it. Add to that the fact that it was the first time either warrior had met and neither knew what the other was going to throw at them. Broly getting downed by an enhanced Psi storm seemed appropriate since there was no way Aldaris was going to beat him the regular way. But I also had to have Aldaris learn something from that battle that he keeps screwing up, underestimating a Saiyan. If you're disappointed with the battle in general, I understand, but how many times do we see a bad guy vs. bad guy fight anyway? I couldn't draw it out like Freddy vs. Jason where they basically kill each other, though it almost turned out that way.**


	49. The Long Wait

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 48: The Long Wait**

I didn't completely obey Zeratul's orders to rest up. I worked on the Stasis technique a few more times in my own room, opting to just form the six to seven foot block off ice around a table or a chair. It worked quite well, except for when I decided to slice it apart with my sword. Rather it be a table, chair or lamp, the object didn't survive taking the ice off it. I merely shrugged at this; it wasn't risking harm to anyone after all. After a few hours of this practice, I got it down to the point where I could freeze the object in just a few seconds. I took note this would be very handy to use on an opponent that moves fast, but there was no way I could do it if they stayed too far away. The feedback move would be better overall, but that involved hitting them with it while they may be on the run. Either way, they were both good techniques, but they had their flaws just like any others. Something else I noticed was that the small amount of Psi that required the Stasis Field had returned to me after I broke it up and melted it with my sword. I hadn't sensed that the first few times because it had been done with my sword, like energy absorption. After letting ice chunks sit for a while, they would eventually melt off into a low energy wave that flowed back to me quickly. It wasn't enough to really make a big difference in the amount of energy I would normal use, but it was good to know.

After another generous night of sleep and a meal in the morning, I waited in a slightly nicer cargo bay that the Norad Three possessed. Zeratul eventually walked in while I meditated, not saying anything as I had come to expect. After only two or three minutes, he broke his silence.

"Your training with me is complete, I have nothing further to teach you," he said calmly. I let an eyebrow go up in response; it wasn't the start of the lecture I had come to expect.

"I thought you said we were going to work on something that I would be more familiar with today?" I asked carefully.

"You are going to work on things you are familiar with, I am not. Your training from now until we arrive is completely on your own, save for a few compliments or suggestions from an old man," he said with a kind smile that I could barely detect.

"Isn't there anything you can teach me with proper energy control, like when I'm using the mixed energy power?" I asked.

"Nothing that you don't already know. What I have taught you was how Psi energy is best used. While my people know how to channel both energies as one, we are certainly not trained masters at channeling such energy. We generally refrain from using it at all, aside from our weapons of course. The best advice I can give you regarding that ability is to follow your heart and stay focused on your intent. Do what you believe is right and make sure to be prepared for any possible outcome that could be threatening," he said, standing up.

"So does that mean I can train with the others now?" I asked.

"Train as you like as long as you don't damage the ship. I do ask one thing when we get to Auir, to come with me to an abandoned portion of the planet. There we will find an ancient Dark Templar temple that is dedicated to our history and deepest beliefs. It is there where we will find the sole remaining contact with our Templar brethren, Raszagal. She is the protector of our history, and matriarch to our people. To this day no one has discovered her true position thanks to much effort of concealment. I fear for her safety with not only the Zerg but also Aldaris as well. Now that Aldaris knows of our existence, there is a chance he may seek out her temple, which is covered by the guise of being abandoned. Hopefully things will not transpire in this way, but there is an ancient legend at the temple that I wish to look into. It regards you and your special powers, is this all right with you?" he asked.

"Yeah I suppose we could do that, but what would a Protoss legend have about me?" I asked.

"It's not just a Protoss legend, its also tied in with the Zerg as well. I believe it to be a legend of our ancestors the Xel'Naga, only time will tell. Now then, I believe your friends will be in here shortly, you will probably not see me again until we reach Auir," he said.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"I will be training my apprentice, Tassadar. I'm afraid he is not as quick as you are when it comes to learning techniques," Zeratul chuckled slightly as he left the cargo bay.

"Hey one last thing?" I asked before the doors closed.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Can my Psi techniques be used in my higher form as a stronger attack or what not? I know the invisibility won't, but what about the other stuff?" I said. Zeratul shrugged slightly, a gesture that didn't really fit him.

"Some of them can, some of them can't, and its something you will have to figure out for yourself. They will probably be most effective as they are now, but trail and error can be a great teacher," he said, leaving me with a bit more confusion. I was determined to know, vowing that I would train to discover that later.

-

A few hours went by before Vegeta walked in, long after I had expected him. I spent most of that time in meditation, however this time I worked on energy balancing between ki and Psi. It was beyond easy now, as if I had been training like that the entire time. The better knowledge of Psi energy and its better uses had proved wonders when mixing the two energies together around me. I was concentrating direct energy streams from both hands into a violent green ball above my head when the Saiyan prince came in. Streaks of lightning had been coming from my hands at the time, which startled him just a bit. I saw his surprised look and reabsorbed the energy in a calmer state.

"I've got to hand it to you boy, I never thought you would be this talented a year and a half ago," he said with crossed arms.

"Would that be when you were beating me senseless so easily?" I asked with a small grin.

"I can still beat you senseless, it just requires more a little more effort now," he said, dropping his arms now.

My eyebrow went up, "Is that a challenge, old man?"

"Unless you want to be beaten senseless again, I suggest you stand up," he said smugly. I studied the stance that he slid into as he began to power up a bit. His hair streaked into the golden hues of first level Super Saiyan, but stopped there for obvious reasons.

"No need," I said, closing my eyes again.

"Don't be getting arrogant boy, its time to train for real!" he shouted now, rushing at me. I focused intently now, putting up an energy shield made of Psi around me, particularly in front. His punch bounced right off as expected, surprising him quite a bit to say the least. He snarled and attacked again, hitting only the blue shield that had shimmered around me as I focused on keeping it intact.

"Argh, didn't I teach you that the aggressor wins the battle almost all of the time? Hiding behind a shield is no mark of a warrior!" he taunted.

"Aggression is the way a lot of battles are won, but if I can anticipate what you're going to do, the best thing to do is to evade or block the attack with the least amount of energy and effort. Then strike at the enemy's weakest points when they are left undefended. You and Piccolo drilled that into my head!" I reasoned.

He stared at me, impressed almost, "I can see that this short amount of time with that old fart has had an effect, you're fighting smarter now!"

I shrugged slightly, "I'm still kind of new at it, wanna see another one?"

"Bring it on boy!" he said with a challenging tone. I released my tight hold on the shield and focused it to the right of Vegeta, circling in a small pattern until I had the right location. I had noticed a rare empty cargo container earlier, and chose to levitate it over to about five feet away from Vegeta. Then I focused on the air around it. The room turned cold quickly as a chilly wind blew from my energy output.

"What the devil are you doing boy?" he asked, a shivering tone in his voice as he powered up his aura to keep warmer.

"Showing you what I was taught yesterday, but it's too dangerous to use directly on you. Well, I can use it on you, but if you don't power out of it, it may take awhile to wear off," I said as I focused the energy into a solid layer of Psionic ice. He stayed silent while I formed the large chunk of ice, polishing it so he could see the empty container I had picked out for the demonstration.

"I'd ask how you did that, but nothing you do is short of amazing anymore," he said carefully. I stood up and walked over to the brick of ice that had a few thick shards poking out at the top.

"Yeah, this is a cool technique, but I'm only saving it for strong enemies," I said, rapping on the side of it.

"Why is that, you should train with this if it is not easy to break out of. As I recall Zeratul used it on Broly, who only managed to overpower it, yours would be much more effective," Vegeta said, firing a small ki beam at it. After showing very little sign of wear against the energy beam, he gasped just a bit.

"Because it's not easy to break out of it, nor is it easy to break it myself. I haven't tried any huge attacks on it obviously, but according to Zeratul only pure Psi energy can easily break through it from the outside, and I found that to be true. My feedback ability went right through it with no problem, though I'm sure it would give the enemy contained fits of its own. That and the victim will go into a frozen state if they can't get out themselves. The only way I've been able to break it apart is to cut it open with my sword," I explained.

"And, what is the downside to this boy?" he asked with impatience.

"I can't use it on just anyone during training, it would have to be someone pure hearted, my sword won't affect them. I found this out the hard way when Zeratul had me do it to him, it was a lesson in how I should be controlling my thoughts and emotions to a more positive state. Luckily he isn't lacking in that quality. I think my evil self only powered up to get out of it, but I don't remember," I explained again.

Vegeta shrugged slightly, "Seems like a waste of time to me, but your more pacifistic attitude has never impressed me anyway. Now are we going to show off your new tricks, or are you going to spar with me the real way?" he asked with an intense tone. I smiled myself, I hadn't done that in awhile anyway. I powered up to the maximum in Mystic form, my aura emitting a bit of lightning as I carefully contained it so we wouldn't rock the ship.

"No tricks, no energy attacks, just pure strength and agility. No Psi attacks either!" he said, stating the rules.

"Okay, doesn't bother me!" I said, lowering into a stance.

"Then why aren't you putting that energy away so you don't use it?" he asked.

"Huh?" I replied.

"Your eyes are still blue, so I can tell your still using it, or are capable of using it anyway!"

"Oh that, haven't you noticed that I haven't been powered up and my eyes are staying blue anyway? And it's very easy to bring it out now, like regular ki energy now. I don't even need ki to keep it flowing anymore! I'll suppress it if it makes you feel better, but I doubt you'll be able to tell," I said with a sly grin.

"Really? Good, you're much further along then Kakarot's brat! Keep up the good work boy!" Vegeta said with sudden pride. I looked at him funny before releasing a sigh of breath, _Oh well, Vegeta will always be Vegeta!_ I dropped down into my own stance, grinning ear to ear as we jumped at each other.

-

Vegeta and I exited the cargo hold together, barely bruised except for a few tears in our clothing. Vegeta was the one who came away impressed, even though all we did was spar.

"Boy, I am quite impressed at how far you've come! You anticipated every pattern I used on you easily, despite not training like a Saiyan for so long. The old man had to have showed you something!" Vegeta claimed.

"No he didn't, it was just easy to see through your attacks, that's all. It's not like you tried everything anyway!" I replied with my eyes closed. In truth I wasn't sure how I matched up with him so well. Since he was fighting at Super Saiyan, our power levels were pretty close, though I was higher by a noticeable amount. His size and pure strength more than made up for that, so I figured I was going to be beaten anyway. I still tried, but I mostly focused on evading his attacks and waiting for an opening. In actuality, I found more openings in his attack patterns than he seemed to know about, making me think he was going easy on me. _Wait a sec, he doesn't go easy on anyone._

"You're sure that you weren't sandbagging right?" I asked carefully.

"When have you ever known me to do that?" he growled back. I stared at my hands, but then hit realization very quickly. All that mind training and meditation I had done lately was paying off. Not just sharpening my skills and agility, but allowing me to see things about another's movement that I hadn't seen before. Any sudden flinch in a muscle area that pre-determined an attack was what I picked up before the actual attack came, therefore I could prevent taking the blow. Also it was the ways that he was angled, giving him only a few options on how to attack, and I could see them coming well before they happened. I had been able to do that before, but not at such a fast level. My senses were easily three times as advanced as they once were. All that training I had done with my spiritual vision ability had allowed me to keep up with higher speeds, thus allowing for a much faster reaction. It wasn't just my energy, not anymore.

"Don't look so surprised boy, after all you are very powerful when compared to others. It's hard to imagine that one could be this strong at your age, even when I myself strived for a power that has since been proven mediocre," Vegeta said without turning around. I quickly followed him through the halls, knowing he was heading for the mess hall.

-

The next few days were generous as I sparred with the other Saiyans, very light training despite our objective. Vegeta had requested a few times that we stop by a barren planet, but there were none with breathable air between Char and Auir. Air wasn't a problem for me, but it was for the others. Environmental suits were an idea to this, but knowing us they would get torn up easily. It was fun to spar lightly in the cargo holds with my friends after all that had happened lately, good times had been rare as of late. While the days were kind to me, the nights were something out of hell. I began to constantly dream about friends and loved ones getting killed, especially Fasha. As result I woke up in cold sweats every few hours, scared out of my mind when it came to those I had not lost. I didn't tell anyone about this, but Vegeta had been keeping a close eye on me ever since Zeratul let me off the hook. It only took six days for him to notice my sudden depression. It was the same day that I mentioned cutting my hair a bit.

"How long have you been having nightmares boy?" he asked sharply out of the blue. I was amazed that he knew about them, I didn't think my behavior had given that away.

"About a week, how'd you know?" I asked.

Bardock answered for him, "A Saiyan that suddenly wants to cut his own hair is often entering the early stages of mourning and deep depression, a broken bond or loss of pride are the primary causes of this!" I stared at the ground, _They got that right I'd say._

"You're going to get deeper into it before long. The number one thing you must do is focus yourself to your training, or anything else that keeps you from thinking about it. If you must, don't sleep, because that will likely comprise your dreams until we wish back the girl! A reminder, you did not kill her! The Overmind is responsible for her death!" Vegeta said sharply. I nodded, choking back a few tears.

"I want to be alone for a little bit today, is that alright?" I asked.

"That is fine, but keep this in mind: you kill yourself and the gods won't be able to save you from me!" Vegeta snarled.

I glanced up at him, "Why would I do that?"

"You already tried once back on Char, remember?" he retorted. _Good point._

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid," I said as I wondered out of the mess hall. When I did get back to the room, I did what I had intended to do. Using my sword, I cut my long hair to about two thirds of its length, just a trim job, but noticeable as it stood up straighter. Then I tried to meditate and think of other things rather than Fasha and the others. It was much harder than I thought it would be. _I hope we get there soon, I can't stand being without her._

**Power levels:**

**Verto: 300,000,000**

**Vegeta (SS1): 240,000,000**


	50. Minor Delays

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 49: Minor Delays**

My nightmares continued with increased intensity over the next few days. Even if they were just dreams, they had been based on actual events and possibly future events. A lot of them now comprised the Overmind winning and sending all of my friends against me, forcing me to kill them. There were dreams about the opposite when I had been infested, hunting down the others with unrivaled fury. I cried myself to sleep a few times during the night, rarely coming from my room except for some sparring and food detail. I managed to keep focused on my objective during the day, but the depression I had developed didn't make me the friendliest Saiyan to be around. I was moping around the hallways one such day when I sensed something strange and hostile that snapped me back to reality. At first I thought it was coming from Auir, as we weren't that far away now. It was more local than that, on the ship. I narrowed it down to the point where I felt it moving towards me. I quickly turned invisible and leaned against the wall when I sensed it getting closer. I wasn't scared of it by any means, but I wanted to know who and what it was before jumping to conclusions. The figure emerged from the curve of the hallway, passing by me quickly. I recognized it to be Kline, one of Raynor's officers. He seemed to be carrying a remote of some sort as he strode unknowingly past me. He also had what I recognized to be a data pad that these humans used a lot. I followed him in stealth, the hostile feel of his low ki just didn't seem right. He headed for the shuttle bay from what I could tell, with pretty much no one around. He pressed a button for transmission while I barely managed to slip through the door when it closed.

"Permission to transfer back over to the Hyperion. I've got the landing co'ordinances for you, Captain Raynor!" Kline said. _Landing? Oh we must be getting really close now, I still can't sense any big energy levels though._

"Confirmed Sergeant, we'll lock on the tractor beam as soon as your shuttle leaves the bay," I heard Raynor say over the com. Kline sat in a driver's seat in the shuttle while I stood out of the way against the wall, still not visible. I scanned his energy again, still sensing that strange signal coming from him. He wasn't powerful by any means, but this hostile emotion I kept picking up was more than enough to be considered threatening. I thought about revealing myself now and plainly asking what he was up to, but anything he would say would just be denial if there were something going on. I stayed still, remaining focused as he drove the small shuttle out of the docking bay. The shimmering Tractor beam came on right away, pulling us to the Hyperion despite moving in hyperspace. _Must be a strong tractor beam._ I noticed another had come on, this time from the Norad Three, probably assisting in guiding it around. We were guided into the Hyperion's shuttle bay within a few minutes. Kline exited, and I quickly followed him from the shadows. He went to a more run down part of the ship, close to where my room was before it blew up. I quickly sensed five more life forms ahead of him, waiting I suppose. I sent out more Psi energy to cover my presence further. When I did this, Kline looked back in the hallway, directly at my position. He didn't see me, but I got the feeling that he sensed me for a moment. _Wait a sec, these humans can't detect Psi energy…unless_, I paused for a moment, watching his reactions without movement. He seemed to shrug off whatever gut feeling had just hit him and move on. I now noticed a greener tint to his skin, one that I knew wasn't there before. I trailed him once again as we approached the five new life forms. He entered an older looking conference room and I slipped in just as the door shut.

I quickly readjusted my energy field once inside the dark room, noting very few lights. I looked around to see the five life forms I detected. All of them were human, but all of them also had that same hostile feeling coming from them.

"Is it done?" one of them asked.

"Yes, we must proceed with the operation as soon as possible. Our master's orders stand!" Kline said.

"We should infect Raynor as well, he is a most cunning adversary that would serve our lord well!" another suggested. _What the hell is this, what master are they talking about?_ I kept silent though, listening in without dropping my energy field.

"No, Captain Raynor will go down with the ship as planned. As valuable as he may be, our master has no need for him," Kline said in distaste.

"When shall we commence the operation?" the first one said again.

"Ten minutes. I will go to the bridge to hook up the remote to the transmitter, that way we can use the Norad's own communication system to trigger the overload on their ship's engines! You will come with me to help take care of Raynor; he may not go quietly as we all know. The rest of you spread out on the ship and kill anyone you come across. With none of the Saiyans or Protoss on board, you should have no problems in carrying out your mission!" Kline ordered.

"What of the young Saiyan that can breathe in space?" the first one asked again.

"His presence does present a problem, however our master expects him to get to Auir where he has a surprise waiting for him. He wants all of the others killed here in space, by any means necessary! Blowing them out into space with the hyper drive explosion of the Norad is the best option as conventional means are ineffective!" Kline said with a cold voice.

I heard something in his voice now, something like a gargle when one is swishing hot salt water in their throat. Everyone's low ki signal became a bit scattered, and in that instant I knew. _Oh great, they were on Char long enough to be infested somehow. No one must have known, so it must be one of those Broodlings._ Kerrigan had shown me a vision of what these nasty things could do. There were two ways that they could be transmitted. First, the Broodlings could start off as tiny Zerg parasites, like a mosquito. They could land and bite some sort of living being and infect them with Zerg DNA. This would create a much larger bug inside the victim's chest. The actual parasite would then die off nearby the victim. The victim would then be open to control by the Overmind or Cerebrate, whoever was in charge I suppose. The often-human victim would be able to do all kinds of spying or stealth work and appear somewhat normal. Kind of like infestation, but without all of the Zerg attachments or the suicidal mindset. If discovered, the actual creature could burst out of the chest, killing the victim, and attack the former comrades. The other way a Broodling was transmitted was through a flying Zerg queen. It wasn't a ruler by any means, that's just what they called it. It could send out the parasites or drop a pair of full-grown Broodlings on an unsuspecting person or vehicle, making the pilots defenseless inside of say…a tank. The Broodlings themselves were the size of a small dog, but they could chew through just about anything.

After Kline and another minion left the room, I stayed and watched the other four. They were loading up on marine machine guns, seemingly ready to take the ship by force. _Damn, I've got to stop these guys right now, otherwise I'm going to lose more of my friends._

"I don't understand why we can't simply target the Norad with the weapons of this ship when they aren't looking, it seems easier," one of the minions said.

"Maybe so, but the explosion is a better cover. Besides this ship isn't in good shape to handle a battle in case something went wrong. One of those Saiyans could blow it up pretty easily right now. Blowing it up from a distance will work to our advantage. Even if the initial explosion doesn't kill them all, it will disable the Norad. Then we can use this ship's weaponry," another explained.

"What do you think the master has in mind for the Saiyan child?" a different one asked now.

"Unknown, we were only given our orders, these human bodies are forfeit anyway. It doesn't matter as long as we complete our mission! Live for the Swarm!"

"Live for the Swarm!" the entire set of four said in unison with fists raised. I decided that I should make my appearance now.

"Your master has a surprise coming to him as well. It's your carcasses after I pile you all into a tiny little package!" I growled loudly, revealing myself while activating my Psi sword.

"It's the child. How did he get in here?" one minion shouted.

"I don't know, I never detected him come aboard!" another said in shock. _Thanks to Zeratul's training. _I phased out just as the four of them fired their machine guns at me. In just under two seconds I had stabbed each of them through the chest, killing them instantly. I stopped moving once at the door, sighing as it opened for me. As soon as I stepped into the doorway, I sensed the dead bodies convulsing a bit. I turned to see them all bursting open with very small bug like Zerg squirming out of them. _Disgusting,_ I thought as the blood spewed everywhere with an organ or two. Four two-foot long bugs came running at me, but I sliced them all apart when they arrived with minimal movement. I took off running, heading for the nearest elevator shaft with my sword in hand. I had to get to the bridge and stop this now.

I found the closest lift and got inside, "Deck Two!" It soared upwards until getting to the desired level. I streaked out again, flying through the hallways quickly to get to the bridge before Kline did. I cursed slightly when I saw that I was on the far end of the deck, and Kline had probably taken a shorter route.

Interlude 49.1: Hyperion

"Sergeant, you sure took your time getting me those landing locations," Raynor said with a slight frown as Kline and his assistant strolled in.

"Complications," Kline said smugly while signaling with one finger. His assistant opened fire on everyone except Raynor, killing all five of them quickly.

"What the hell is this?" Raynor asked reaching for his pistol.

"Dear Captain, it is fate, and we cannot allow your friends to intervene with our Master's plans!" Kline said as his assistant checked on everyone to make sure they were down, grabbing Raynor's side arm in the process.

"Your Master? Who the hell is that?" Raynor shouted.

"The Overmind of course," Kline said, his skin turning a deeper shade of green.

"You're infested aren't you, how in the hell did we not see it?" Raynor asked, astonished.

"There are other ways to infest a being than simply taking them into the fold, you will not see that day however," Kline said as he plugged his remote into the communication system.

"What the hell are you doing?" Raynor asked now, keeping his hands up since there was a gun at his back.

"Tapping into your system and activating the overload command on the Norad's hyper drive. Your Saiyan friends are not going to make it to Auir, nor is anyone else now!" Kline said as he patched into the system.

"They can just teleport over with their special powers and use this ship," Raynor said with a grin.

"Oh, we're blowing this one up to, no one is going to Auir. Our master's orders, including ourselves!" Kline said, pressing several buttons.

"What, your mission is suicide?" Raynor said in shock.

"Correct, that is our purpose as it always has been. You humans are wonderful agents for the Overmind to use against the Protoss as well as yourselves, and so obedient once given an order with promise of rewards! A great flaw in your race I must say," Kline continued. He punched a few more buttons before waving off his assistant to take Raynor to another compartment of the deck.

"You won't get away with this!" Raynor boasted.

"We already have!" Kline said. As they left the bridge, Kline cut the engines by hitting the first button on his remote pad. The ship dropped out of Hyperspace right away, but with no explosion, just as Kline planned. He was to get the Norad to come back into range and ask to assist, then he could transmit the detonation sequence over their communication lines, otherwise he would be too far out of range. A display screen blipped on with Artanis at the helm of the Norad, asking what was wrong.

"It seems that our hyper drive has suffered a power failure," Kline lied as he started to punch in the sequence.

"Swing around and turn back to the Hyperion, prepare to extract repair teams!" Artanis ordered as the Norad slowed down to a crawl. Kline waited patiently for the large ship to get closer.

-

As I was running to the bridge, I caught sight of Raynor being led away at gunpoint. I stopped for a moment when he saw me, ready to go help him. His captor did not see me, and he waved me by as he mouthed the word "bridge." I nodded and sped off, reaching the door to the bridge quickly. It opened just as Kline was staring at the screen, telling Artanis that he would be standing by to receive a repair team. I had felt the ship slow down to a stop, but I never sensed any sort of explosion, so Kline's plan must have had a minimum range needed for a signal.

"Stop where you are!" I shouted at him, raising my sword and sending a warning ki blast at his feet.

"Verto? How did you get over there?" Artanis asked from the viewer.

"Back away from the panel right now, or I will turn you into a pile of ashes!" I warned, stepping closer.

"You're too late boy, I've already keyed in the sequence to both ships, you've only got five minutes until your friends are killed!" Kline said with a laugh as he did indeed back away. A loud alarm blared from both ships with a deep crimson color flashing from the ceiling lights.

"He's set the engines to overload and blow up both ships. We have to shut them off, can you get Gohan to teleport over here!" I asked as I looked to see what was wrong on the display screen. Artanis nodded, seeing that they had problems of their own to take care of. I turned back to Kline, but only saw a door closing. I growled slightly, _I'll get him later!_ After a few moments, Gohan teleported onto the bridge, looking quite surprised.

"How'd you know he was going to do this?" he asked.

"One of those gut feelings again, you mind trying to figure this out and shut it off before we're all in trouble!" I suggested.

"I'll see what I can do," he said, sitting down at the keyboard and typing quickly.

"Gohan, the remote detonator's codes can't be broken from here, you will have to shut off the destruct sequence for both ships from the Hyperion!" Artanis said over the viewer.

"No pressure," I said with a grin.

"Yeah I guess, go hunt down that Kline guy, I'll take care of this!" he said, punching in all kinds of codes and commands.

"Ten-four," I said as I ran for the door he had left at. It didn't open right away even as I punched it lightly.

"He must have jammed the doors," Gohan said as he continued his work. I punched the door a little more than harshly, barely getting a dent as a result.

"Probably reinforced, these ships are made of some tough metal!" Gohan said.

"No problem," I said, stabbing forward with my sword and slowly cut a hole in it large enough for me to crawl through.

"Okay, I've isolated the Norad's power systems and found the problem, canceling now!" he said, as I was about halfway through the door cutting process. Artanis confirmed that the destruct command on the Norad had been deactivated.

"Now for this one. Oh great, the systems are different, this is gonna take awhile!" he groaned.

"We don't have awhile!" I shouted back at him, as I was about two thirds through.

"I know I know, hey Artanis, move the Norad out of the range of the explosion from the Hyperion. I can teleport back with Verto should we fail at getting this shut off! You have three and a half minutes!" Gohan ordered. Artanis complied with a good luck call before cutting the transmission. Gohan punched a few more buttons before slamming his fist against the console, leaving more than just a dent.

"Damnit, it's no use. Come on bro, the only way to shut this off is in the engineering area. We should just get off the ship and let him go down with it!" Gohan suggested as I punched out the hole I had made.

"Why is that, you shut off the other one from here?" I asked.

"It's the way it was transmitted, from two different places. Here and the engineering section of this ship, so there must be two different controllers! It's possible one of his accomplices set it to blow down there!" Gohan said as he ripped apart the first one. I scanned ahead in the corridor, Kline was far ahead of me, soon I lost track of him.

"Only problem is that Raynor is still alive on this ship, and there may be some other infested beings here. That and Kline may be able to use the other one on the Norad, we have to find him and stop him here!" I said crawling through the hole.

"Go to Deck eighteen, section six, that's Engineering. You should be able to discontinue the command from the main computer panel there! If there's a problem, just raise your power level and I'll teleport to you and we'll get out of here! I'll find Raynor! Be careful!" Gohan shouted to me as I ran into the hallway.

-

I followed the stench of Kline's infested body down to the eighteenth deck, engineering section six. The halls were dark with flashing red with only my blue Psi sword giving any other color. I was down to one and a half minutes on the countdown, something the computer was nice enough to continue giving me. I spotted another hostile human in front of me, looking out for any intruders with a machine gun. I didn't even let him see me before ki blasting him into dust, Broodling and all. I scanned around for any more Zerg-like tissues that they now possessed, not picking any up. I came into the main chamber, seeing all kinds of alarms and lighting flashing around the engine core, which was running wild with blue energy bouncing around in its chamber. I rushed up to the control panel, hitting the cancel destruct command as was displayed. The sequence shut down and I saw the temperature display start to back down as the lighting switched back to a normal white.

"Whew," I said. All of a sudden the warbled computer voice came back to life just as the red lights did, the engine core was building up to detonation again.

"What the hell?" I asked. I glanced at the display, seeing that the cancel option was no longer there.

"Looking for this?" I heard behind me. I knew it was Kline before I even turned around. He stood in the doorway with a small remote in his hands.

"This ship is going to blow, and its explosion should be enough to disable the Norad long enough for my master to take over Auir before you can get there! It's not an effective contingency plan, but its better than nothing!" he mused in the doorway.

"Not if I can help it, give me that remote!" I warned, shooting a ki blast at his feet.

"Your threats are so amusing, come any closer and I hit the button, blowing you out into space along with everyone left on this ship! And the Norad isn't far enough away to avoid any of it. So either you wait another minute, or you trigger all of your friend's deaths right now!" Kline warned back. I stood still, watching his fingers twitch.

"You'll be dead before you can press the button. I can guarantee that!" I said as I focused in on his arm and hand muscles.

"I don't think so, even you aren't that fast!" he boasted.

"I wouldn't bet on that," I warned, ready to blast his arm off at a moment's notice. All of a sudden a loud barrage of machine gun fire lit up the room, and Kline's upper arm filled with bullet holes before falling off with the remote in his hand, cluttering safely on the ground. Kline turned and backed up, revealing Raynor in the doorway with his machine gun. The assistant of Kline's was nowhere to be found.

"Where is," Kline began, holding his blood soaked shoulder without the arm.

"Dead, he made the mistake of turning his back on a fellow marine," Raynor said, firing again into the chest cavity of Kline.

"Curse you!" Kline gasped as he spit up blood.

"I should have done this when I first met you, traitorous bastard!" Raynor growled as he emptied his clip into all of Kline, who plummeted to the ground. He looked like a pincushion with so many bullets going through him. Raynor picked up the remote and shut it off, killing the destruct commands. I heard Kline laughing with his dying breath. We both walked up carefully as he cackled on the brink of death.

"It doesn't matter what you do, my master always wins. You can run, you can hide, you can fight, but it doesn't matter! He will consume you all or see you burnt to ashes at his feet! The Overmind is eternal and will be forever! Nothing you do can change that!" Kline said as he laughed crazily. Raynor took out his side arm and pumped one shot into Kline's head, finishing the job.

"I don't know about you, but I was getting sick of his laughing," he said as he put his sidearm back into its holster.

I gave him a smirk, "Yeah, it _was_ a little annoying." We were walking away when I heard the sound of cracking ribs coming from Kline.

"What the hell?" Raynor asked as he shot at the creature emerging. The bullets did little as the large bug came crawling towards us, but my sword pierced it easily like a spear when I threw it. It vanished quickly, but the Broodling was down for good as the wound in its head remained after my energy faded.

"I choose to fight," I said to the dead Broodling, hoping its far-away master had heard it.

-

"Damnit! Kline's run up of power drained most of the power cells, we don't have enough to use the hyper drive!" Raynor said as he ran a diagnostic. Gohan and I were assisting him in looking around the ship for other infested beings, but there was none.

"Is there any way to charge them up without taking any power off of the Norad?" I asked, wondering if this was going to be like the Protoss building I recharged back on earth.

"Not here, there are only a few planets in this sector that have power cells, never mind to recharge them. Most if not all of them are now owned by the Dominion!" Raynor said in a panicked voice.

"I guess we're all going out on the Norad then," Gohan said. Raynor seemed reluctant to leave his ship, saying how it was his "baby" and what not. Raynor picked up the remote detonator as Gohan prepared to teleport us back to the Norad, saying that he would not leave his ship out here for some random pirates to pick it up. As soon as we were back to the Norad Three and at a safe distance away, he blew it up with the remote.

"Goodbye baby, you were a good ship to me," Raynor said on the bridge, almost a tear or two in his eyes. Vegeta pulled me aside once back to the ship wanting to know details on how I knew what was going on.

"Just a gut feeling," I said to him as I had to Gohan.

"Whatever," he grumbled as he walked off.

"We're back on course, but I want you Saiyans to sweep the ship for any possible infested agents, and I will have a few of our operatives to help in screening their blood for any sort of thing as well," Artanis suggested. Gohan and Bardock nodded to this, splitting up with a couple of Protoss with blood screeners of some kind.

"You really prevented a possible disaster today, my young friend, our greatest ancestors would be proud to shine their light upon your courage!" Artanis commended me.

"Save the thanks until we're done with this war, I don't think things are going to be this easy from now on," I said with a cautious frown.

"Indeed," he said as we looked at the moving stars on the view screen.


	51. Arrival on a Battered Planet

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 50: Arrival on a Battered Planet**

The amount of tension on the bridge was mind-boggling for the last few hours of the journey to Auir. No more infested agents were on the ship, and all rooms were checked thoroughly. Everyone was well rested and fed, as we had been waiting for this day for a good while.

"How long do we have till we reach visual range of the planet?" Artanis asked.

Raynor's assistant Butler looked over his readings. "About five minutes at this speed!"

"Still no transmission or contacts?" Artanis asked again as Butler shook his head.

"So much for the welcome wagon," Raynor said, seated to the right of Artanis.

"It is strange, but if the Zerg swarm did indeed pass through this area, the outermost planetary defenses may not have been replenished after the initial attack. Most likely they are all on the planet surface," Tassadar suggested.

"Can you tap into the networks yet? The sooner we get new information, the better off we will be," Artanis said.

"No, but I am picking up signs of debris straight ahead!" Butler announced.

"Onscreen!" The video showed several large asteroids scattered about in a straight line, about five lines deep.

"Take us out of hyperspace, proceed through carefully," Artanis ordered. I felt the ship slow as we neared the asteroid belt. I spotted chunks of metal floating around randomly, especially thick in-between chunks of rock. I also spotted the remains of Protoss buildings on the asteroid surfaces, not many, but enough to be noticeable.

"Confirmed, outer defenses were destroyed, I can't get a reading on all of them, but its safe to say that the Zerg came through here!" another Templar said from his station.

"Any life readings?" Tassadar asked.

"Negative, only debris," Butler said quickly.

"Proceed straight through, keep an active scan for any life readings of any kind, we don't want any surprises out here!" Artanis ordered.

"Interesting," Zeratul said, breaking a long silence from him.

"What's that?" I asked, standing next to him and Vegeta.

"When the Zerg invade a well-defended planet, they will take any chance to fortify their position with their enemies previous locations. They would certainly want to take the outer defensive positions if they knew we were coming!" Zeratul suggested.

"Perhaps the Overmind considers it wasteful when it needs to drive all of its forces against Auir to win! Or maybe that the Asteroids did not have enough resources to consume?" Artanis suggested with hope.

"Showing a large grid of minerals and Vespene geysers in the Asteroid belt!" Butler said quickly.

"Scratch that idea," I muttered.

-

"I've tapped into the network!" the Templar said from his station.

"Anything prudent to tell us then?" Tassadar asked from his chair.

"Full scale war on Auir as expected, about seventy percent of the population has been destroyed?!" he said in shock. That lit up just about everyone's eyes, except those wearing Saiyan style armor.

"Give us a display of Auir as regards to Zerg territory!" Tassadar ordered. A picture of the planet showed up then, showing a very large chunk flashing red. Other notables were yellow flashes in and around the red blob.

"About 35 percent of the planet is completely controlled by the Zerg. Most of the remaining population has evacuated to the capitol for a massive defensive effort against the Zerg. A large portion of major cities has been destroyed. A lot of news about powerful Zerg infested Terrans being responsible for this siege!" the Templar said, casting a look our way. _Gee, three guesses who did that. Wait a second, Terrans as in more than one? Looks like Kerrigan was right about multiple clones,_ I thought, stretching a little in preparation.

"I've got word here that High Executor Aldaris is trying to organize the assistance of the entire population to strike against the Zerg with the combined fleet!"

"Technically the correct thing to do, however this isn't exactly a war that Protoss can win easily," Tassadar said, also looking at Vegeta and I.

"Can you contact anyone in the capitol?" Artanis dared to ask.

"Negative sir, there is an outstanding order for our termination that is all over the networks as well. Apparently Aldaris knows that we would be coming eventually," the aid said right away.

"Praetor, make a scan of sector nine-one-eight in the southern hemisphere!" Zeratul suddenly ordered.

"Minimal activity of any kind present, very far away from any major Zerg activity. Only an ancient Xel Naga temple is there, mostly ruins!" the aid said. At the words "Xel'Naga" my ears perked up slightly. Zeratul has said he wanted to take me to this place.

"Set a course to land in sector nine-one-eight nearby the temple!" Zeratul ordered quickly.

"What? Why are we going to some run down place that is older than dirt? We should strike at the Zerg from the other side and push towards the Overmind!" Vegeta snarled slightly.

"There is someone there I wish to contact before we proceed, and it involves the boy," Zeratul said simply, leaving Vegeta stunned.

"Whatever," he said after a few seconds.

"Executor! I have come across some interesting information!" the Templar officer suddenly said.

"What is that?" Tassadar asked.

"It seems that a small portion of the military has split from the main forces, said to be under the command of the Conclave!"

"But they were overthrown?" Artanis asked suddenly.

"It seems they may have been re-established in a non-direct conflict with Aldaris' leadership. So far there have been no attacks to either side, but they refuse to rejoin the main force and have been attacking the Zerg in small rogue groups. They have set up a command nexus in Sector eight-three-four, not very far from sector nine-one-eight!"

"Perhaps we should pay them a visit as well," Tassadar suggested.

"Five minutes until we enter the atmosphere!"

-

The ride through the upper atmosphere of Auir was short and bumpy, settling down within a minute or two. We landed less than a mile away from the old temple without any disruption. Most everyone left the ship, except for a few human and Protoss crewmembers, left behind for scanning and communication purposes. Zeratul requested that we all go to the temple on foot, but only asked for me to go inside with him. When Vegeta and Gohan asked why, he only said that he preferred the temple to be standing rather than crumbling should any attackers come by. _Yeah, especially if we're under it!_ I thought as I gazed up at it. Overall it wasn't very large above ground, but judging by the layout of it, I wagered that there could be a substantial underground maze of tunnels and chambers to go with it. We climbed up a short round of stairs before entering the withering testament to the Protoss ancestors. Inside there was no lighting at all, no visible power supply, nothing but stone. Zeratul spotted what appeared to be a long dead torch on the wall, and lit it into flames with his wrist sword. It provided a little lighting, but not much. I followed Zeratul through a few of the dark halls before we came to a steep winding staircase. I looked up and down, seeing that it was a LONG way down.

"We must go all the way to the bottom," he said as he started down. I didn't mind walking all that way--it wasn't anything strenuous to me--but it had to have been thirty to forty flights down to the bottom. The stairway was crumbing in a few spots, so I watched my step just in case it triggered something else. I wasn't worried about getting out safely, but Zeratul didn't appear to have the ability to fly, so I stepped with caution.

After what must have been fifteen to twenty minutes of slowly walking downwards, we reached the bottom floor. There were no walls down here in the catacombs, only dirt and cave rock, with the occasional large tree root sticking out somewhere. There was only one darker patch of the cave rather than rock and dirt, and Zeratul right away walked in that direction. Darkness wrapped around us as we entered, with only the torch providing any light around us, showing nothing. After a few minutes of this creepy darkness, we came to a large gray wall with many markings. I couldn't read any of them, as it looked to be ancient Protoss language of some sort. It surrounded the entire wall with writing, except for one small circle in the middle, a little bigger than my hand.

"It has a lot of history scribbled on this door, but the only passage that matters is written here!" Zeratul said, pointing to a strangely bold line of text.

"It says that only the chosen may enter!" he said, pointing to the small round circle. I shrugged slightly, trying to figure out how I may be part of an ancient Protoss legend. I pressed my hand against the small round pad, and instantly the wall started to rise like it was on a crane. Behind a bright light came in, bright to us anyway. _Okay, this is getting on my nerves, just too creepy._ Inside there was another hallway, but this time the walls were lit with torches and loaded with more ancient text and hieroglyphs all over them. Zeratul dropped his torch to the ground, seeing that he wouldn't need it anymore. I saw a lot of pictures regarding what must have been the long conflict regarding the Protoss and the Zerg. Most of it was famous battles that took place in the past, along with better inventions to fight the Zerg with. There were other little legends regarding rites of passage for a Templar, and a Dark Templar amazingly enough.

"This hall has all of our history since the Xel'Naga left this planet, it was shortly thereafter that we encountered the Zerg for the first time out in space. I am old enough to remember that, as I was once living on Auir, studying at these very same temples! The history past our banishment from Auir has probably not been written here, but a lot of that was preordained," Zeratul said, sounding old.

"You mean you guys knew that you would be banished?" I asked, sounding a bit surprised.

"To an extent, what we didn't know was how and why," he grumbled, as it must have been a sensitive subject. We came upon another dead end with a sealed wall. It to had a round pad to open it, but Zeratul seemed to look away from it for a moment. He spotted a display of pictures written out on the sidewall next to the end of the tunnel. He glanced at the other side briefly, but stood fixated upon the wall on his side. I looked at it now, seeing symbols that resembled Zerg types as well as the Overmind, though it was shaped like an octopus. There was another symbol that sent chilly waves of recognition down my spine. It resembled a man, but had an aura around it, meaning someone with power. It was displayed with other symbols a few times, but stood in front of the Overmind symbol like they were a combined force. Another symbol was shown, a smaller version of the man with a tail and a sword, shown standing before the other one like they were going to fight. Nothing but blank stone came after that, something Zeratul paid a lot of attention to.

"Open the door, it is time to see if this is indeed your destiny," Zeratul said calmly. I placed my hand on the door, a bit confused at all of this. It opened just like the last one did, sliding slowly upwards. Inside the door lay a small room, lit with a few torches, blue and yellow fire erupted from them. The door slammed shut once I was in the room, directly behind Zeratul.

"It's been a long time," a dark and old voice said through the air. This startled me because I hadn't sensed anything, and I still didn't.

"Who's there?" Zeratul asked, drawing his sword.

"Zeratul, my faithful servant, returned to me at last I see. What do I owe this visit old friend?" the voice asked again. This time I could make out a distinctive female tone to the voice.

"I have questions about the future of our race, and I think that this boy here is the answer!" he said, dropping his sword to the side but turning it off. An image slowly came into view ahead of us, eventually molding into a Dark Templar with red robes covering her.

The eyes flashed with golden fire, "Is that so?"

"Who is that?" I asked.

"The Protector of our history and our matriarch, Raszagal*," Zeratul said with a slight bow.

**Interlude 50.1 –Outside the Temple-**

"Argh, how long does he expect us to wait?" Vegeta asked with his usual impatience. Gohan and the other Saiyans sighed at this, totally expecting it.

"I'm sure they'll be out soon, we can always have a sparring match to pass the time!" Goku offered.

"No thanks Kakarot, I'm going to take out my frustrations on the Zerg as soon as we encounter them!" Vegeta growled. Goku looked surprised, but let it pass. They had been waiting outside with most of the ship's mixed crew for about an hour already without any disruption other than Vegeta's constant impatience.

"Do you think anyone detected our landing?" Raynor asked off topic.

"Despite all of the fighting going on all over Auir, the chances of our arrival going unnoticed are remote at best," Tassadar said next to him. A loud beeping went off after a few moments of silence. Artanis picked up a small round object from inside his robes, pressing it lightly.

"Report!"

"Praetor Artanis, we have detected a single shuttlecraft heading this way from the capitol, estimate arrival time at thirty-six minutes!" a Templar aid said over the communicator.

"Any notable Zerg movement in this direction?" he asked now.

"Negative, the shuttle approaching is not marked by any certain tribe, but we are reading abnormal Psionic waves being emitted from it. All hails have gone unanswered," the aid said.

"Understood, Artanis out!" As he put away the small communicator, he spotted Gohan giving him a hard stare. Gohan broke the look, looking to the North and east, almost right in line with the direction of the capitol. He reached out with his senses, and picked up exactly what he expected to find. _Well that didn't take very long, time to get this over with!_ He thought to himself.

"What is it Gohan?" Goku asked first.

"Aldaris," he growled in a low tone.

***Raszagal- sounds like Rash-ah-gall. In the regular Starcraft story she is the Dark Templar leader, but is not introduced until the Brood War story came out, nor was she on Auir to begin with. Since this is A/U I can do whatever I want (evil laugh). Besides one timeline is already screwed up because of Verto, another one may as well be also!**


	52. Path of the Destined

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 51: Path of the Destined **

"I don't mean to be a non-believer or anything, I'm just not so sure on this whole "I'm part of a Protoss legend" thing. It just seems so unlikely," I began as I sat on the ground next to the aging Dark Templar. She was much older than Zeratul, who was ancient by my standards. There was a definite difference though with Raszagal, she looked like she was on her deathbed, barely clinging to a short strand of life rope. It was a bit sad to see one so old to look so frail and know that there was nothing you could do for her to ease any pain she was in. On the other hand, she looked very happy to have visitors, I can only imagine that it may have been awhile since I was the one to open the door. Zeratul stood off to the side, apparently his job was to bring me here and nothing else.

"Much like the prophecies said, a powerful Terran child in doubt about his future," she said like it was memorized. _Like I said, really creepy_.

"I'm sure you have questions about this, but you will have to follow what you believe is the right road young one. We can only show you the door, you're the one who walks through it," she explained with a line I swore I heard a few times before.

"Yeah I've been hearing that a lot lately," I said with a slight shrug.

"I can see you're confused, and your heart has been shown many paths to follow lately. Many historical figures and legends follow the same road you are taking, unsure of what is right or wrong. While many feel they know their path, some do not. You will write your own destiny much like the ancient script in the great hall you passed through. Know that it is never complete until you yourself complete it, no matter what others say or believe themselves," she said in a very calm tone. I nodded slightly to her kind but knowing words.

"You may be the one to finally vanquish the Overmind and its Zerg. You may not be. I can certainly sense the gift, you have the potential. But it looks like your not quite ready for this challenge," she said, giving me a hard look. I thought about that for a moment, she had a point. I felt ready enough physically, but I have had a lot of mental stress lately, mostly concerning a slight depression.

"Hmmm, I know that look. A warrior's broken heart in need of mending. I have seen it many times in the eyes of our brethren. That hopelessness that has been installed in a warrior so much that he has cracked. The mightiest warriors have fallen to their enemies because of this fatal flaw. A flaw that is so rich in pride and compassion, that it eventually undoes everything the once proud warrior stood for," she spoke softly again, hitting me hard mentally. It sounded a lot like one of Zeratul's speeches, but she was certainly a gifted speaker in comparison.

"Yet it is this flaw of emotions that every great warrior must possess. Never let go of your compassion, or you will pay the ultimate price and end up destroying yourself," she said, more like ordered.

"Yeah I understand, controlling my fear and anger is a major part of controlling my power," I nodded.

"Part of it is that, but most of it is keeping a delicate balance with all good and bad emotions. As you know, anger and rage can be used to one's advantage, especially if you lead a gentle lifestyle that becomes interrupted. However, if one emotion dictates your personality, it will crack very quickly," she said, turning serious. _Well that is something new._

"As I understand it, you were recently through a very testing trial not long ago, where your emotions eventually got the better of you. Your darker emotions built up and attracted a lot of negative energy within yourself. This spawned a spiritual form of what you would consider your own dark side, correct?" she asked. I glanced at Zeratul, but he had shut his eyes.

"Don't worry child, I have my own ways of seeing through a person's heart and mind. I do not know the details, but I can certainly see the effects. I've traveled the universe a time or two before even young Zeratul was given life. Every personality must have its own positive and negative sides. A Ying and a yang as some of you Terrans call it. If either side is stronger than the other, this balance is unstable and must be dealt with before the being can resume stability. Some beings recognize this, some do not. Many of them work it out in their own ways. Your friend Goku is a good example of this. He is very much good hearted and kind to all living things. You hardly ever see any negative feelings from him, just by nature. If he were not such a gifted fighter, he would not ever be able to work out his negativity and would fall into despair eventually. His negative emotions and energy is worked out through the evil beings he battles against, rather he wins or not. You, like him, represent the side of light and righteousness, I can easily see that. I can also see that you are a very emotionally balanced individual, you can see things with all of your emotions. Should one side of the pivotal scale gain an advantage on the other, that advantage is dominant," she explained, stopping to breathe for a moment.

"I understand that, but where exactly is this leading to with me?" I asked carefully.

"You should be a bit more respectful, she was getting to the point momentarily," Zeratul interrupted.

"It is all right my faithful servant; he is encouraged to have curiosity. After all, his entire destiny is potentially much more broadened than just here and now on this planet," she said, giving him a look that clearly said to be quiet. He nodded and crept back into the shadows in silence.

"The dominancy of the light or dark side can directly determine one's actions, and this can obviously change in the blink of an eye. In long term speaking, if one side is overly dominant over another, the other will build up and cause hot and sometimes violent lash outs of raw negative emotions no matter which side has gained the advantage. For example, if you suddenly become entrenched in negativity due to the pain of loss, you should be able to work through it without being rash. However, if one goes through enough of this anger dominated behavior, it can slowly and perhaps eventually lead to a change in behavior to where one's darkest rage and fear can drive them to madness and insanity. This is quite often the result of a major shift in one person's lifestyle, or like I said, through pain of loss," she explained.

I let those words sink in, before realizing that she had hit on everything I had been through right on the head. It wasn't the whole transformation into a Saiyan she was speaking of either, that hadn't changed my behavior a whole lot. She was talking about the day Trunks had messed up and turned me into an adult with that damned Ionic Pulsar. Most everything that had come about lately was because of that day, though the pain of losing both Videl and Fasha was not helping things. It may have been delayed by a great deal, but I now knew that my darker self would have emerged sometime during the conflict with the Zerg even if the Protoss had never been involved. By either being captured, or seeing a loved one getting captured and/or killed could have triggered the overflow. All of those violent lash outs I had during the trip to the past were all precursors and I never even knew it. Vegeta hadn't known either, he just thought I was displaying Saiyan traits that I was very new with, but they were in fact the signs of my darkest feelings. The way I had injured a few fellow Saiyans, the way I had brutally murdered Frieza and his henchmen. Even the Tremens that I killed, rather they were attacking me or not, none of it should have happened like that. The way I killed Frieza probably would have happened either way, however I certainly would not have been thinking this way back then either. In all actuality he may have deserved it anyway. _But all of the others, did they deserve the same fate that I personally handed them with my strength, do I have the right to decide? _I allowed my face to fall slightly, gasping a bit for breath as I realized this, a few tears coming down my face.

I felt a cold but gentle hand find my shoulder, "It is all right child, one never realizes their mistakes until it is too late. Understand though, it is never a wrong thing to punish those who have committed the worst crimes, though the method of punishment and justice can be debated. Obviously one who is only committing petty theft should not be stripped of his own life, but one who consistently takes lives without provocation certainly has no right to keep their own, remember that," she said kindly. I sniffled slightly and nodded, wiping the salt water from my face and allowing her to continue.

"Only a strong will can overcome such a shift in emotions, you and others like you have shown that streak rarely found in anyone. Your ability to vanquish your own evil half is the sign of a truly gifted soul. Thus the emotional balance you possess has shifted back to normal, for evil cannot last forever. Good cannot truly last forever either, eventually the two sides must balance each other out, or there is always a conflict. Your will to become a good-hearted person who fights for those who cannot defend themselves is a fine asset. However you must understand that your positive and negative emotional states become a reflection of this, and such an event with your own dark side taking form can happen again given enough time. You must understand and control all of your emotions. It is never a good thing to dwell on negativity, but too much of a positive outlook can be just as dangerous. Realistically, true feelings are not Positive or Negative, it is how we act upon them that make them that way. Breaking a medium within your soul is essential to your development, do you understand this?" she asked finally, taking another exhausted breath. _Wow, that is a lot to take in, but it makes perfect sense, and it wasn't quite as vague as Zeratul's speeches._

"Yes I do, I'll try my best," I said, bowing slightly.

"I know you will child. Good and Evil are the only absolutes in this reality. Everything else will fall into place accordingly with that balance. As you progress, you will truly learn to channel the correct emotions with your differing powers. With your Psionic power, positive emotions make those abilities more effective, much like negative emotions make ki energy more effective. The combined energy will draw strength from both as long as you are balanced. Just be sure you know your enemy before passing any sort of judgment on them. You never know when you'll come across a mistaken enemy and improperly react to a situation. Back to the point about good and evil, your friend and teacher Vegeta is an interesting case. He was never completely evil despite what some may think. He was shown that by his upbringing, much like Goku was shown complete love. And at the same time, either one of them could turn to either side of their personality if enough things line up just right. Goku has had his bouts with his negative emotions just as Vegeta has with his positive side. Any Evil being can be shown the light either by attrition or extreme despair. I don't think I need to explain Good turning to Evil anymore, now come over here and look at this part of the text," she said, raising her hand just as the lighting in the dimly lit room shot up dramatically. There were several different displays of ancient text and hieroglyphs broken down into several sections, none of which seemed complete.

"All of the preordained destinies you see in this room are in regards to the Protoss race. Some revolve around prosperity and other great things. Others circle around suffering and darker events. Some don't even have a future, because they end abruptly. Many of them can hit a crossroad where even the smallest decision can affect the outcome. There are two different futures in this room that will cross paths very soon, and the path chosen will directly determine the fate of our species as well as the universe as a whole. Many people consider the universe to be of one lone place where everything and everyone there is real and everything else is imaginary. However I believe the actual universe is made up of all people, all matter, all energy, all dimensions and all time. You already know part of this, you have been to other places that never existed other than in the imagination of the mind. You are currently living part of that imagination to a degree, therefore it is real! What you see on these two inscriptions here is only part of the path you will potentially travel. For there to be a road for everyone to travel, you must stop the ones who would ruin it for everyone. The Overmind's ambition to rule our race is only a stepping-stone in what it believes its path is. Its path of destruction and chaos is a selfish one as you know," she said. I gave her a strange look, _was she reading my mind this whole time?_

"I do not possess the ability to read minds, however the expressions you Terrans use to silently communicate can pierce any thought process easily once you've been around it long enough, you to will know this with experience. The things I know about you and your friends is, private knowledge," she said with what had to have been a smile. _Yeah, right._ She now pointed out the two "futures" she had been talking about. They were similar to the hallway wall's ending for a prophecy untold. They both featured a similar tale. Only this time there were several humanoid figures with aura like drawings around them with the Zerg hopping around between and ahead of them. On the other side were many of the Protoss like drawings, as well as the smaller humanoid with a tail and a sword, leading them to battle with an aura of his own. There were a few more humanoid figures like this roaming with the Protoss as well, but were drawn back a bit. The ending of the piece was different, only with the simple fact of one side or the other winning. Both sides featured a humanoid warrior with a huge aura winning at the end, one represented good and one evil.

"As you can see, there is a fierce battle on the horizon, whoever wins is up to you now. Your friends will help you in your time of need, but it is still your decision on which future is true. While it may seem easy to decide now, keep in mind the intangibles, the unexpected possibilities. Proceed with caution, and do whatever you must to see your true path clear!" she finished as she backed off while I stared at the ancient text, letting her words and knowledge flow through me.

I heard heavy wheezing and coughing a moment later. It wasn't a normal cough like a human or Saiyan would have had, but it definitely wasn't good.

"Matriarch, don't tell me," I heard Zeratul utter carefully. I spun around to see that the strong and proud old woman was once again withering away in her old age.

"Yes, it seems my time has come. My one true destiny in this world was to pass on my knowledge to the one responsible for either our salvation or our collapse. It seems you were correct, this is the chosen one," she rasped heavily. I felt her strong mixed energy signal break apart, showing a distinct Psionic and ki signal separately now. Her ki was dropping very fast in only one direction that I knew so well, death.

"I can heal you, you don't have to die," I said, stepping towards her.

"You do possess that ability, however you must save your strength for the battles ahead. Trying to keep me alive will only drain you, and I have gone long past the life expectancy of any Templar, light or dark. It is my time, I knew this a long time ago when I first became a Templar," she said with a definite weakness in her voice. She limped over to a bed with Zeratul's help while I stood by, trying to figure out what to do, follow another's wish or do what I believed to be right.

"Please let me help you," I offered.

"You already have young one, I know now that my life was not a complete waste. My greatest moment in life was being able to pass on my knowledge to those who needed guidance. You and Zeratul have been my own guiding light, and I pass to the Kalah's will with great happiness in knowing that I could help you follow the hard road ahead, thank you my friends. I shall always watch over you both with the love and compassion you have bestowed upon me," she said, collapsing into the bed. Her eyes closed, and her ki signal vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Matriarch? MATRIARCH?!" Zeratul shouted now, his own grief washed upon him in an instant. I needn't check her energy signal again, I already knew she was gone. He fell to one knee, muttering his own language so fast I couldn't make any translation, not that I knew it past a few choice words. I felt a warm wash of energy coming from her lifeless form, her spirit was rising.

"_Remember your teachings, and follow your hearts and you will succeed!"_ I heard in the air. Zeratul rose to this, he had heard it as well.

"Farewell," he said in a sad voice.

-

"Are you ready to proceed?" the shadowy form asked. I couldn't help but sulk a bit in the presence of her lifeless body. I had barely known her, and yet it was if she had spent a lifetime watching over me from afar.

"Can I have a few minutes?" I asked.

"Take all the time you need, a warrior should always meditate and reflect on his experience before a battle. I will be above, I sense that our time is running thin," he said, leaving the room quickly. The door remained open, but the light had long sense faded out, more than likely due to the recent loss of its caretaker. I lost track of him quickly as he left the area, leaving me in a slowly darkening room as the torches around me slowly began to fade to blackness one by one. 10 in all, some yellow and some blue, all of them destined to fade out like so many I had seen. All of them passed into the wind's of change much like my life as I reflected upon it.

_Hearing the name, the memories come back again_

_I remember when it started happening._

_I'd see you in every thought I had and then,_

_The thoughts slowly found words attached to them._

_And I knew as they escaped away,_

_I was committing myself to them and every day_

_I regret saying those things cause now_

_I see that I took what I hated and made it a part of me!_

_And it never goes away…_

_One._ I thought about my previous life. It seemed so long ago that I left my planet, and yet it had been about two years including the time in the hyperbolic chamber. My human mother and all of my family from my home world, my friends that may or may not have been there for me, I felt I had not always been there for them and that I should have been.

_Two._ All of that life, gone in barely 48 hours, my life completely changed and flip flopped. Everything I had dear was taken, no, stolen from me by a heartless monster! To have that back, I was sure I would sacrifice anything to do it.

_Three._ A new life given to me by that same monster that had stolen my old one. New family and new friends, eventually I would care for them in the same way. I had to give up that old part of me to realize and gain the new one, and that had healed my damaged soul in a way that I had never realized until now.

_Four._ Losing that new family igniting a new spark in me during the Majin Buu crisis. The fact that Supreme Kai had blocked my mind from accessing what may transpire became a prime factor in the slow release of my hidden potential. Another monster was trying to take my family and friends away, and I fought against it along side them, eventually winning.

_Five._ A series of strange twists regarding my life and my potential. My more potent Saiyan aspects were made known to me by negative emotions that as I understood were supposed to be held back and in check. Trying to be the good-hearted warrior was impossible because I never understood how to deal with conflicting emotions that built up over time, not too mention the sharpening of my body and soul without time. I almost feared what may have happened if Elder Kai had released all of my power.

_Six._ My mind, body and soul restored after some horrific things had been done against my enemies whether they deserved it or not. Once again a child, but forced to under go the stress of dealing with a threat to peace. A trait I will probably forever have, and maybe now, for the first time, I will truly understand what my life may consist of. I had to let go of my darker emotions and the potentially guilty feelings that came with them. I didn't need to be the equivalent of Buu blowing his stack.

_GET AWAY FROM ME!_

_Gimme my space back you gotta just_

_GO_

_Everything comes down to the memories of_

_YOU_

_I kept it in but now I'm letting you_

_KNOW_

_I've let you go_

_Seven._ The Zerg. I could write several books on them based on opinion of what I now knew. Always I had known that they were a threat to peace. Their chaotic and consuming will to please their master, the Overmind, the driving force behind them. Its undying ambition to power had even awoken a part of myself that I never realized. I had been taken and twisted by its will for control, and my dark side had become my own worst enemy. I barely survived it, and had learned my first true lesson in knowing my own emotions, especially fear. He was everything I wasn't, yet his own fear turned into my ally in vanquishing him. I could still feel traces of him there, knowing I would never be truly rid of that aspect just like any other life form. My previous mistake of not knowing the demons I may have deep down, had cost me dearly, both in grief and anguish. The Cerebrate had warned me about letting him out, but my good heartedness had believed it to be a cry for help. His liberation had eventually taught me to look past the choices I make, and that not everyone is what they first seem. I suppose that previous lesson paid off when I met Kline for the first time, as I had nothing but suspicion for him.

_And now…_

_You become a part of me, you'll always be right here_

_You become a part of me, you'll always be my fear_

_I can't separate, myself from what I've done_

_Giving up a part of me, I've let myself become you!_

_I've let myself become lost inside these thoughts of you_

_Giving up a part of me_

_I've let myself become you._

_Eight._ The last torch that blew out represented to me the lifeless form in front of me. Living out her life to a destiny that wasn't realized for many years more than I thought possible. Her kindness to a total stranger no doubt, going only on assumption that turned out to be truth in shadow. Her last words of knowledge and encouragement have revealed the meaning behind the last two candles before me, sitting on either side of her resting place.

_The Last two. _One represented a future that relished in a hopeful peace that I had to bring about. The other represented what may happen if I failed and the evil I faced became the dominant force in everyone's life. Even if there would be another to put a stop to it, I couldn't count on it. I knew in that moment that I must do everything I could to make sure that the 2nd passage didn't come to pass. I rose to my feet with a serious glare at the last two candles, _only one of these is going to go out, and it is not going to be by my failure! I will take whatever action I must to prevent the evil from spreading. I'm ready!_ I felt a few shockwaves go off far above ground, filling the room with falling dust. Some of the cave behind me got the worst end of the deal when I sensed some larger rocks fall into the dark path. _Great, that will slow me down, but I've got to get to the surface! I sense my friends might be in trouble!_

**A/N: If you recognized that last part to be the prologue, you are correct, with a few careful wording changes of course, plus a stronger ending. I typically don't like to supply a prologue that teases future events like that, but it seemed appropriate. Next chapter features a battle most have wanted to see and the cliffhangers will end temporarily. **


	53. Gohan vs Aldaris

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them.**

**Chapter 52: Gohan vs. Aldaris –"Let's do this now" part 1**

Gohan stood with a fixated glare at the skies to the north and east of the Xel'Naga temple. He was completely focused on what he knew to be his fight. His blood had been boiling for Aldaris' head for a long time, and it was going to be satisfied one way or another. Goku and Bardock attempted to speak to him several times since they first picked up the shuttle coming, but Gohan's attention was completely on Aldaris. Vegeta didn't bother, telling his Saiyan brethren to give up, Gohan wasn't going to listen to anyone but himself right now. Gohan was listening, and his father and grandfather's words did help to reduce the bloodthirsty rage he was feeling right now. That was about the only thing that kept him on the ground and waiting. The energy signal he sensed only got bigger as it got closer, and he became more focused on defeating it. Vegeta and the others were not inclined to Psionic energy, so they felt nothing, though Tassadar became increasingly worried by the minute.

"Tassadar, I suggest you get everyone into hiding far away from here," Gohan turned and spoke at last.

"Only one shuttlecraft is coming right? Surely you aren't scared of a small platoon of Protoss are you?" Raynor asked, not a true holder of the facts at this point.

"It's for your own good, you'll only get in the way of this fight. One shuttle may not sound that threatening, but if this guy is as strong as I think he is, you'll only be in danger by sticking around," Gohan explained quickly.

"Praetor, remain here and wait for Zeratul, Captain Raynor and I will evacuate our forces and the Terrans to the Norad 3 and head towards sector 834," Tassadar ordered.

"No, travel on foot if you can," Gohan suggested.

"On foot? But it will be a hell of a lot faster on the ship once we get going!" Raynor retorted with a glare.

"He is going to be here in any minute. I doubt you will all be aboard and ready by then, and he is likely to involve some of us or the ship in the fight. Get everyone off that ship and get as far away as you can right now!" Gohan ordered again, getting a better reaction out of it. A loud sound of an engine overhead cut the commotion as a ship flew in quickly, but slowed and circled before landing in the field to the west of the temple, very close to the Norad. Gohan sensed one strong spirit exit the ship and walk their way, the figure hidden by a few spotty trees. Gohan turned and waited with a sharp but focused glare on the figure emerging from the clearing. When he came into view, Gohan took careful note of his lower body, covered in gold plated but very hard looking metal. His upper body had a few new implants as well, as one arm was artificial and a lot of his middle had been replaced. His head was the same, sporting a new head dressing that resembled a crown. Tassadar and Raynor quickly got off of the gawking train and urged the other soldiers to leave the area right away. Artanis stood off to the side with the other Saiyans, occasionally glancing towards the temple.

"We finally meet again boy. I hope you came prepared to die," Aldaris said with a wicked grin. Aldaris quickly removed the cloak that he had been wearing, showing off the rest of his implants that kept him alive and moving.

"I see you lost a few things since I last saw you, but it doesn't matter, you won't be leaving with them!" Gohan said with an aggressive growl.

"Lost several limbs and inner organs, but gained vast knowledge in return, a sacrifice I would gladly make again! Now then, I trust there are no other things you would prefer to say to me before we settle this?" Aldaris asked in a salty voice as he removed his crown, showing long gray hair streaking behind his head.

"Only that you pay for what you've done! Argh!" Gohan yelled as he powered up quickly. Green lightning flashed around him before his hair flew up and turned dull gray-silver, his eyes bright blue. The ground cracked around his feet and became entangled with lightning. Aldaris's eyes widened slightly, but he didn't run in fear as many in the area expected him to do.

"How fitting, this is how I remember you best, and this is how you shall be laid to rest!" Aldaris said with a grin. A bright blue aura shot up around him as he now powered up with his Psi energy, blue lightning striking around him. The winds blew in as he released his inner energy, blowing any spectator nearby either down or into the stretching trees. The Saiyans blocked against this force, barely. Gohan felt it pretty well also, grunting slightly as it forced him back a step. Aldaris finished quickly, a calmer aura of blue around his body. _Man, Verto wasn't kidding when he said he was so strong. I'll have to be careful and make him make his own mistakes before I go after him_, _hopefully he hasn't mastered the use of his powers that well, _Gohan thought as Aldaris walked forward. He stopped once he was within thirty feet of Gohan, holding one finger and pointing at him.

"Death beam!" he shouted as he shot a quick Psi beam aimed for Gohan's chest. Gohan knocked it away, and the next five that came in. Aldaris fired several rounds of small energy balls afterwards, most of them deflected away as Gohan held his position and swung only his arms, watching the Templar carefully. Aldaris frowned slightly, charging up a big ball the size of a truck and throwing it straight at Gohan. The Saiyan caught it and was pushed back quickly by the force of it. Gohan stepped into the ground harder and slowed to a stop, bent backwards a little while he struggled with the energy ball. He slowly released more energy and pushed it backwards slowly, cringing and grunting the entire time. Aldaris frowned at this, he expected a somewhat easy victory by what he was sensing out of Gohan's Psi energy. The combined effort with Gohan's ki had made him concerned, but he wasn't overall that worried as long as he kept the Saiyan away from him. Aldaris threw another Psi beam at Gohan, struggling with his already strong Psi ball. Gohan saw it coming and focused on Aldaris and pulled one hand up to his forehead while he blocked with the other. A bright blue explosion lit up the area as the beam struck the ball, sending any remaining trees in the area into the distance. Aldaris grinned slyly as the energy rippled outward before slowly fading.

"That takes care of that nuisance!" he said in an arrogant tone. A whoosh of air behind him stopped his remark's cocky affect in its tracks. He barely turned his head in reaction before it nearly came off of his neck from Gohan's fist. The force of the Saiyan's punch sent him into the ground and skidding for easily forty feet before he stopped. Aldaris spat the blue blood in his mouth, wiping it off as he slowly got back up.

"How did you do that? You moved so fast I couldn't detect you!" Aldaris demanded.

"Trade secret," Gohan said with a grin.

"Not for long!" Aldaris declared, firing another round of energy blasts at Gohan. Gohan avoided them all with mere turns and jumps, keeping his grin the whole time.

"Argh! Stay still you freakish monkey!" Aldaris roared, shooting more energy at him. Gohan kept moving and watched Aldaris follow him with every twist, phasing out suddenly to break the pattern. When Aldaris lost track of him, he saw his chance. He charged in from behind just as Aldaris looked to his rear, ready to punch his head off again. His hand hit a blue wall of Psi, stinging him a little bit there. Gohan had expected a shield, but this one was protruding three feet away from the Templar, not close to the surface of his skin like all others had been before. Gohan punched and kicked several dozen times, every time hitting the blue shield, trying to wear it down.

"You would have to do that for a very long time to break through," Aldaris remarked as he turned completely around. Gohan growled as he jumped backwards, he hadn't expected this, but wasn't overly worried yet. A sudden rush of Psi caused Gohan to dodge to the right just as a rain of blue lightning came down from the air above him, barely missing.

"Whew," Gohan said as he saw the failed strike leave its mark on the ground. He recognized the technique as the Psi storm. On Earth Kerrigan had used it on him a few times when he and Verto were searching for the Dragonballs. The first time it had worked, but the second time had no affect as he and the younger Saiyan were powered up. He trained with Verto a few times on their way to Auir, learning that energy could be added to this attack and that Aldaris was more than willing to use it with that enhanced affect. Verto had shown him the early but brief warning signs of this attack, showing Gohan that should he sense any sudden surge in Psionic energy around his body or directly above him, he should get the hell out of the way. _Well, he wasn't kidding about that_, Gohan thought as Aldaris continued to scowl at him. Another rush of energy entered the air and Gohan phased out again, just missing another lightning bolt coming for him. This was repeated several dozen times over until Aldaris realized it was fruitless to keep trying.

Instead of attacking Gohan some more, Aldaris turned the opposite way, looking at the other Saiyans with a gleeful eye.

"I wonder if your friends will be able to withstand the Psi storm, after all, every one of you Saiyans are all very strong," Aldaris said in a low enough tone that only Gohan would hear him. He began pouring energy into the air near the temple, much more than he had been using against Gohan.

"No, don't involve them, I'm your opponent!" Gohan shouted at him.

"And soon they will be once I'm done with you, might as well take care of them now!" Aldaris laughed as he had the attack ready to go. A whoosh of unseen energy struck, but it wasn't against the Saiyans. Aldaris quit laughing when he saw that his artificial arm was now dropping to the ground, almost completely severed from its socket, creating a lot of sparks.

"Attacking bystanders to gain an advantage, what a dishonorable Templar you have become!" a dark and grim voice said. Zeratul appeared just a few feet from Aldaris' surprised form.

"You cut off my arm, do you realize how long it takes to install that correctly?!" Aldaris said in surprise, holding the loose wires.

"Prepare to lose the other one you evil creature, you are no Protoss and do not deserve mercy!" Zeratul declared, swinging his green sword straight at Aldaris.

A blue Psi shield blocked it not a foot from Aldaris' face, "Apparently your vaunted power is even more overrated that I thought, fallen one! Now join your ancestors!" Aldaris shouted, blowing him far back from him with a powerful wave of invisible energy. Zeratul fell backwards in surprise and pain, landing and skidding all the way to right in front of the other Saiyans and Artanis.

"Prelate Zeratul, are you harmed?" Artanis asked, dropping to one knee next to the old Dark Templar.

"All of you are about to be harmed!" Aldaris declared, charging up blue lightning around his hands. Gohan attacked from behind swiftly, but only pinged off Aldaris' shield with his energy blasts, trying to cut through and stop him.

"Nothing you can do now boy!" he said, charging a strong surge of Psi storm lightning and firing it with his hands directly at the group, more notably Zeratul. Artanis suddenly jumped up and stood several feet in front of Zeratul, his arms spread wide. The lightning attack struck Artanis directly, surging all around and through his being before lifting him off the ground and doing the same.

"Stop this!" Gohan shouted when he felt Artanis' energy drop dangerously low. After about ten seconds of this, Aldaris stopped the attack, seeing Artanis drop lifelessly to the ground. Gohan noticed that the low ki signal within Artanis had dropped to nothing, but his Psi signal had grown exponentially before vanishing completely. _Oh my god, I had no idea that technique could do that! No wonder anyone without a large amount of Psi can go down because of it. So this is why Verto was so cautious about using it, and why his evil half was able to beat dad so easy. Aldaris destroyed his spirit, which would kill the victim instantly once its gone. I can't let him do this to anyone else! _

"No matter, that weakling didn't deserve to be called a Templar!" he shrugged as he prepared another lightning blast. His attention diverted as he saw Gohan teleport in right in front of Zeratul and the other Saiyans.

"I've had enough, you have caused too much pain to me and our family! Now you're killing your own kind, and I'm going to stop you!" Gohan shouted at him as he dropped back for a Son trademark attack.

"You haven't had enough, not until you lie face down!" Aldaris declared with a smirk as both he and Gohan charged up their auras in preparation.

"Ka, me, ha, me…" Gohan chanted, green energy flickering and sparkling between his hands. Aldaris was recharging his lightning blast into a violent blue Psi beam, ready to send it at Gohan at any moment.

"Now feel the wrath of a god!" Aldaris shouted, firing the blue beam and watching it tear up the ground in its path to destruction. Gohan lowered just a bit to settle himself, his blue eyes shimmering and glowing brightly. He considered using Instant Transmission to really trip Aldaris up and finish him off, but his family and friends would still get hit by the beam, never mind the temple with Verto still in it even if they dodged.

"Not this time, HAAAA!" he yelled loudly as he fired his answer. The green beam rushed out from his hands and struck against the incoming blue one, clashing violently as the ground split beneath it. Both fighters poured energy into their attacks, making the collision ball even larger. Gohan pushed with all of his might and energy, sending the struggle into a direct stalemate, and then gaining ground on his enemy. Aldaris was surprised by this to say the least, and sent almost every ounce of energy he had outwards, barely nudging the collision ball in the other direction. He panted as his energy ran thin, seeing his blue beam getting swallowed by Gohan's superior green Kamehameha. Desperate, he shut off his beam and concentrated for a moment. Gohan felt Aldaris giving out and sent an extra surge down the beam to finish the job. The beam struck its target and exploded with a bright flash before steering itself into space. The light and smoke cleared to show Aldaris smoking and lying in a small crater as Gohan and the others walked up to see him motionless. Gohan narrowed his eyes, knowing that if Aldaris was out of power, his blast should have obliterated him. He rescanned the area, picking up a large but much lower signal to his right. He spotted Aldaris breathing very hard and on one knee, far enough from the blast point to not be affected. He turned back to the body he saw, seeing it fade away from existence.

"A phantom?" Bardock asked.

"Argh, what a coward," Vegeta grumbled. Aldaris then pulled his good and living arm up to his face, using his chin to press a button on the side of a wristband of some sort.

"Commander, I need immediate recall to Talematros!" he shouted into it like a communicator.

"Right away, High Executor!" a dim voice came in.

"You may have won this round Saiyan, but you will not be as lucky next time!" Aldaris said as he pointed at him.

"Where do you think you're going, were not finished here!" Gohan said, walking his direction. A blue hue of energy surrounded Aldaris as he grinned away.

"He's being teleported elsewhere, get him now!" Vegeta shouted. Gohan fired a quick round of energy blasts, going right through the blue energy field as Aldaris vanished. He sensed him reappear far away at some sort of Protoss city. The energy signal dropped right away, too low to be detected for the moment.

"Damnit!" Gohan shouted at the air.

**-**

"Where did he go?" Gohan asked with anger as Tassadar punched up the location on board the Norad. He and Raynor had returned with fast shuttles, saying that the forces of the Conclave picked them up after coming to investigate what was going on. They had taken Zeratul down to medical for attention, though it only seemed the wind had been knocked out of him as he quickly rejoined the group.

"He said he was going to some place called Talematros. Where is that?" Gohan asked again, more insistent.

"A suburb of the capitol city, with very tight defenses, no doubt he went there because it is one of the safest places on the planet, other than the capitol itself!" Tassadar explained.

"So he's going to recover and send your armies after us isn't he?" Vegeta asked.

"It is certainly possible, but I doubt he would be that foolish. Although he may use the fleets to defend himself with if we don't get there soon, we have to be prepared for that possibility," Tassadar explained further, concerned a bit.

"What can we do to draw them away from Aldaris so they don't get themselves killed?" Gohan asked, a bit calmer now.

"A diversion would help, but splitting up may not work to our advantage, and what's to stop them from killing you three if you divide. It may not sound like much, but the grand fleet is very formidable!" Tassadar said thoughtfully.

"Is there anyone on the planet that can help us?" Goku asked.

"I may be of some assistance," a voice said from the bridge door. A tall Templar walked through with a few guards coming in next to him. He bore a thick robe that signified him as a high noble.

"Chancellor Zorbon?" Tassadar asked.

"Executor Tassadar, it pleases me greatly to see your life has not been taken. But time is of the essence here!" Zorbon said, wanting to get down to business.

"Then you know of the true events on the Terran planet of Earth?" Tassadar asked, stunned.

"I have my own ways to get the truth, I figured it out long before Aldaris came home. The only problem is the overwhelming power he has obtained, it has made it difficult to deal with him. I do know that neither you nor your Saiyan allies were responsible for the death of Fenix," Zorbon explained.

"How? Surely Aldaris would have erased any such information from his ship logs regarding the true events! He made that mistake on Earth but I doubt he would do it again!" Tassadar exclaimed.

"Why not ask him yourself?" Zorbon asked, motioning towards the door. A painted head of a Zealot emerged, with many metal implants around his body with two very big wrist blades that were currently turned off.

"Praetor Fenix?!" Tassadar said in surprise.

"It is good to see you again Executor, your comrades as well! We have many battles to look forward to!" Fenix said with a bow, a dull golden glow came off of his body.

"But how, you were dead, I know you were!" Tassadar argued while the Saiyans stared wide-eyed.

"That was my doing, when his body was warped back to Auir, I had him put into Stasis immediately and examined thoroughly. I managed to save his life with artificial implants much like Aldaris has now. It was Fenix himself that told me what happened on Earth. He has been in hiding ever since until now," Zorbon explained.

"We have operatives ready to give Aldaris' forces all kinds of headaches by showing false Zerg signals all over the capitol city, that should keep them away from your battle!" Fenix explained.

"There's another problem, there's a possibility that Aldaris is going to Talematros because of its great pylon clusters. He can connect to them and use their energy to enhance his powers. We found this out not long ago when he defeated a powerful Zerg agent by doing this instead of battling him directly! Supposedly he had barely won against this golden warrior before and tried this instead, and it worked quite well to say the least. A large Zerg wave was sent in next, and he eliminated them easily!" Zorbon warned.

"We should attack from all sides then, as long as your people keep away, we should be able to knock out his power sources before he can do anything about them!" Vegeta suggested.

"Then let's get going, fire up the Norad!" Raynor said, cutting in with his own order.

"Wait, what about the boy, he hasn't come out yet?" Bardock asked.

"Leave him be for the time being, he will emerge when he is ready and I will send him ahead," Zeratul said, leaving the bridge and the ship a moment later. As the ship took off, Gohan kept a sharp eye on the view screen with anger, wanting to tear Aldaris' head off even more so now than before.

_Run away nowhere  
Too chicken shit to face (me)  
I'm gonna go there  
The fear I cannot taste  
You think you got me (you laugh)  
You're gonna tumble down (you laugh)  
Keep coming for me (fuck off)  
I'll drop you on the ground_

_I fuck with no one  
Until you get into my face_

_Break you down  
Mercy, I cannot allow  
Through your face, My fist will plow  
Watching as your blood pours down  
Lets do this now! _

**Interlude 52.1: Verto and Zeratul**

I emerged from the temple very dirty and relieved. I had cut through the cave with my Psi sword and slowly made my way to the surface, having to carefully plow through without the mountain coming down on me. A few times the catacombs were blocked off and I caused another cave in or two by cutting through it. I wasn't sure how long it took me to get out of that dark death trap, but it had been a good clue when I stopped sensing a battle going on. I came outside to no longer sense my friends in the area, nor was the Norad ship still around. Several blemishes and craters outside told part of the story, the only question was who came by for a visit. I scanned farther away, picking up Gohan and the others traveling north and east, a pretty good distance away from where I was. I didn't sense anyone else in that direction. _I wonder why they left me._

"I told you to take the time you needed, they went ahead to stop Aldaris from his plans," I heard a voice to my left, causing me to jump in surprise and point a hand towards the source, ready to fire an energy blast. Zeratul was sitting there, slowly coming into view.

"Don't startle me, I might get the wrong idea," I warned, dropping my hand.

"My apologies," he said, and then proceeded to tell me what had happened while I was underground meditating. When he finished up by explaining what they thought Aldaris was going to do, I had heard enough.

"I'll go stop him then," I said, turning to exit the temple.

"Use whatever measures you must to defeat Aldaris, beware of his strong and inexperienced powers. He has taken the life of one fellow Protoss today, he may take more if he feels it necessary!" Zeratul warned as I lifted into the air.

"Don't worry, I'll stop him in his tracks if Gohan doesn't do it first!" I said, powering up slightly and flying into the distance.

**Power levels:**

**Super Mystic Gohan: 700,000,000**

**Super Aldaris: 650,000,000**


	54. Overwhelming Power

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 53: Overwhelming Power –"Let's do this now" part 2**

Aldaris growled as a temporary outlet was attached to his back and missing arm. He hadn't wanted to have to retreat back to Talematros to gain power, he felt certain he was strong enough to beat Gohan and the Saiyans on his own. Now he vowed he would rid the universe of all of them when they came for him, as he knew they would. With the added power of the pylon clusters, he felt beyond certain that he would beat them easily even if they attacked in a group. The only thing he was concerned with now were his immobility with the linkup, and the placement of the troops he had called in. He masterfully planned to take down the Saiyans while he was still connected and keep them at a distance. Once down he would dispose of them in whatever way he felt necessary. Given enough time he felt that he could power up far enough to not even need the added affect of the pylon clusters feeding him energy, but his new senses were telling him that he might not be allowed that luxury. As the power link connected, he felt a great surge in energy and began to channel it into his body, making him feel beyond invincible. The feeling gave him a direct connection to the pylon clusters and any sort of scanning equipment hardwired to the system, making him feel much larger than he actually was. This enhanced his senses to where he could sense pins dropping anywhere around the small power plant of a city.

"Great one, are you going to battle once again after you recharge your power?" an aid asked.

"The battle is coming to me, and I will draw all of the power that I must to defeat them, even if I drain the capitol of power to do it!" he claimed.

"That would severely hamper some of our defenses should the Zerg use this opportunity to attack!" the aid said, concerned.

"I highly doubt the Zerg will be foolish enough to attack with our great fleets nearby. Besides, I plan to use this new power directly against them once I've dealt with these Saiyans!" Aldaris claimed.

A loud beeping rang in a few minutes later, "Great Aldaris, I'm receiving scattered reports of Zerg activity in the capitol, it appears they dug their way into the underground maze of sewers!"

Aldaris frowned at this, it wasn't what he needed to hear now, "Send all troops into the capitol to eradicate the Zerg, and sweep the sewers once they have been dealt with. We don't need their interference right now!"

"What about you sire, surely you will need at least a small force here to defend yourself?!" the aid asked in a panicked tone.

"For you perhaps, I can handle it. Now go, our enemies will not defeat us today!" Aldaris boasted. The aid ran off as Aldaris sunk lower into sync with the clusters of small pylons, feeling his power build massively. It wasn't long until he picked up a Terran battle cruiser coming near and landing a mile or two away. The strong energy signals of the Saiyans soon appeared, coming straight at him.

He grinned as they came into view, "Time to decide the true victor!"

_Break you down  
Mercy, I cannot allow  
Through your face, my fist will plow  
Watching as your blood pours down  
Let's do this now_

_Let's do this now!_

Gohan took note of a tremendous number of pylons surrounding the small city, and even larger numbers of them inside of it. He had picked up Aldaris' energy signal once he linked up with the energy crystals, finding him hardwired to the system by long and thick cables. He silently powered up just a bit, to the point he could jump to Super Mystic when necessary, feeling Aldaris' energy a little better. It had shot up dramatically since their battle, and was steadily rising as he felt more and more energy coming into his body. He also felt a lot of energy coming off of the crystals, knowing that if Aldaris drew enough of that in, he would be able to overpower Gohan. As he and the others landed a bit away from Aldaris, Gohan picked up on a sudden surge of energy in the air.

"Move!" he said as he jumped out of the way. Vegeta and Bardock complied, but a strong bolt of blue lightning hit Goku, who didn't get the idea right off. A string of them followed the leader, burning through the Saiyan's armor like it wasn't there. Aldaris let up and watched Goku struggle to get to his feet, favoring his right leg and his stomach, right where some of Aldaris' Psi storm had been focused the most. _Great, he's not wasting any time now,_ Gohan thought as he shot into Super Mystic form, brightening the area with silver light. Vegeta and Bardock also transformed to Super Saiyan two, Goku followed soon after. Aldaris only chuckled at this, his laugh coming over a little louder since he was connected to a massive amount of computerized technology.

"Go ahead. Do your worst!" Three large golden beams struck a solid blue wall of air a moment later, a thick green one joining it from Gohan. The Psi powered shield didn't even show a sign of weakening, the four energy beams did nothing as they struck the same general area.

"Guys, let's try a spread out attack! Aim for the buildings! He can't concentrate his energy four places at once!" Goku suggested, he and Vegeta powering up more to Super Saiyan three. Gohan flew to the right a bit, but watched Aldaris smirk brightly, as if he was waiting for this. All of them lined up and fired loads of smaller energy blasts at the small pylons around the area, every one of them hitting a blue shield and canceling out with relative ease.

Vegeta got fed up with this right away and let the shield have it, "FINAL FLASH!!!" A bright explosion went off as Vegeta's beam collided with Aldaris' shield, followed by several minor ones as Vegeta fired another string of smaller energy balls. When the smoke cleared, the only thing damaged was Vegeta's ego, and some of the ground outside the shield. Aldaris kept a tight grin as he had anticipated their actions perfectly. For him focusing on the area was not a problem now that he was connected to the pylon clusters and the scanning stations nearby, and putting this tremendous amount of energy forth to shield himself and the clusters was just as easy. Gohan frowned, with that shield up and so strong, he wasn't going to be able to attack Aldaris, he would have to wait for Aldaris to come to him. At the rate his power was going up, it wasn't going to matter either way. A surge of Psi energy crossed his senses, aiming for the Saiyan with currently the least amount of energy, Vegeta.

"Watch out Vegeta!" Gohan warned at the mildly tired prince. Vegeta turned and dodged quickly, but another burst of energy came at him, this time from the surface of the massive shield. Blue lightning surrounded the Saiyan prince and shocked him over and over again until he hit the ground. It continued until he passed out from pain a minute or two later, dropping out of Super Saiyan. The streaks of Psi lightning retreated back to the shield, reabsorbing itself while Aldaris held a tight grin.

"What a weakling, but I suppose that's what I should expect from now on!" Aldaris laughed at the fallen Saiyan.

_You're gonna feel how (alright)  
I really am with you (you're right)  
You're going no where (must stop)  
Don't really know what to do (you're right)  
It's going to go on (fuck off)  
Until you run away (alright)  
You can't control me  
You best do it my way (you won)  
_

_I fuck with no one  
Until you get into my face…  
_

Gohan felt two more energy fields emerge and head towards his father and grandfather.

He growled and flew over between them, "I'm right here Aldaris, do your worst you dirty coward!" Gohan shouted out. He stood still as his family backed off, prepared to receive the punishment Aldaris might send his way. The energy fields collected and surrounded him, and a new distortion emerged in the shield. _That's it! _

"_Dad, you and grandpa attack when he hits me, were going to get through that shield one way or another, spread out so you can hit the pylons!"_ Gohan thought out to his family. The two golden warriors nodded to each other and phased out of view, hoping Aldaris couldn't track them easily. Once they felt out of sight, they flew to opposite ends of the city, charging their family's trademark attack.

"It's time for your end boy, try not to scream too loudly or you'll wake the dead that you are about to meet!" Aldaris laughed, as he took no notice of Goku and Bardock's positions. The streaks of lightning emerged from both the air and hit Gohan in the sides as one big spray of bolts came in from the shield area. Gohan shouted loudly in pain as he took it full force, almost dropping out of the sky.

"_Don't attack yet, but get ready to use as much power as possible! He's focused completely on me and I don't think it'll work any other way!"_ Gohan thought to his family, barely able to think straight with the powerful lightning striking him. Goku looked concerned about this, but started charging his power into his hands, his father following his lead. Gohan managed to get himself under control and not fall to the ground, powering energy into his aura to begin to block this assault. His Psionic energy was being drained, and he felt his Super Mystic form was going to be leaving him very soon. _I hope this works, because I'm out of ideas and out of time if it doesn't! _He thought as he called on all of his energy. Aldaris kept his assault going with undying fury, now focusing on only the large lightning spray coming from the shield, as the other sides were only a setup to get him to keep still. Gohan's aura began to push the lightning back and eventually away from his body by a few inches, more than enough room for him to concentrate. He moved just enough to get into position to start his answer to Aldaris' plan.

"Kamehameha!" he shouted, starting a quick beam to push the Psi lightning away from him, and then adding a whole lot of power to it. Aldaris frowned at this, knowing his little Psi storm attack may not be that effective against this.

"Fine boy, but this time you are losing!" More energy gathered in the shield, and Gohan saw it begin to fade from the surroundings. A blue beam shot from the surface as more concentrated energy came to reject his beam. He fired more power to counteract this, forcing a stalemate. He wasn't doing this for the win, it was for the distraction. The shield's wide range thinned to the point where he could feel Aldaris getting frustrated with this, and pulling a whole lot of its energy to duel with Gohan. Gohan let the energy pile up and come towards him, now using only one hand to fire his green beam and the other on his forehead. The violent blue swirl began to creep towards him faster and faster, but still he didn't budge. He felt Aldaris piling it all up and sending a tremendous surge of power his way.

"It's time to visit your own hell, now die!" Aldaris shouted. He shut off his beam just as the shield energy merged into the beam, phasing out as his potential death was winking him in the eye.

"_NOW!_" he thought and moved at the same time.

"HA!!!!" two distant voices shouted, their own blue beams smashing up the ground to their destination. Gohan reappeared on the ground and safely out of the way of Aldaris' beam, smiling at the Templar who now looked confused. Two bright explosions signaled the success of the attack as the pylon clusters began to collapse one at a time. More explosions sounded until one big one erupted in the middle, and leaving two straight lines of destruction split out from a crater in the middle, debris was thrown everywhere. Goku and Bardock's beams had been aimed at the start of the biggest congestion of pylons, taking them out in a straight line and colliding at the middle of the biggest frontal cluster. They hadn't taken nearly all of them out, but unless Aldaris had underground cables hooked to him, his everlasting supply of power was taken care of. Gohan panted slightly for air, seeing the success of the attack and seeing the look of disbelief on the face of the old Templar. The upper rows of pylons then dimmed before showing no light or energy at all. Aldaris was none too happy to say the least, and cut the connections to his arm and lower back. Gohan rescanned Aldaris' energy now, sensing a slight problem, it hadn't gone down hardly at all. _Damn, now dad, grandpa and I are all tired, this isn't good._ Gohan was forced to drop out of Super Mystic form, he had used too much Psi energy to keep up his effort.

"I hope you're ready for the worst boy!" Aldaris growled, flying towards Gohan slowly.

_Don't you know that  
You can't punch me?  
Don't you know that  
You can't bring me down?  
Oh my life would be so easy now  
If you haven't stepped across that LINE!  
_

Gohan powered up with extra energy he had been forced to store away upon ascending to Super Mystic form. He used the remainder of his Psi energy to restore the lost ki in the previous engagements. He didn't think it would be a difference maker now, but he hoped he could buy some time. He sensed a new signal coming their way, and responded to it as he powered up to the maximum in Mystic state.

"_Hey Verto, you need to hurry, I don't think I can last too much longer against this guy!_" Gohan thought out to his friend as Aldaris continued to float towards him. No response came, but he did sense Verto pick up the pace a bit. With that done he focused his attention back to the older Templar, seeing another lightning blast forming in his hands. He frowned slightly, that was going to have more of an effect now if he didn't do something about it.

"Dodge this one boy, Death Strike!" The lightning flowed from Aldaris' hands easily and streaked towards Gohan, who phased out and reappeared in the air. The flurry of lightning struck the spot he was at and gave off a loud clap of thunder.

"You missed," Gohan grinned slightly. He frowned at the next flurry of lightning that followed, this one came quicker. He used instant transmission to get away again, reappearing to see a mesh of blue lightning in his face. The following scream and tumble to the ground signaled his mistake on the matter. Aldaris let up on the assault to witness the shocked expression on Gohan's face.

"Ugh, how the hell did you know where I was going to go?!" he asked, hoping for both an answer and a further stall for time. Aldaris laughed more now, seeing that confused and fearful look on Gohan's face evolve a bit.

"Didn't you figure that out on your own boy? I may not be able to track you Saiyans that well with your movement involving ki energy, but once you make the mistake of using your Psionic power, I can sense you anywhere. Your mixture of energies somewhat inhibited me from tracking you earlier, but now that your worn down I can sense your every move!" Aldaris said with pride. Gohan scowled, _looks like I need to train more with Dad on instant movement the other way, but it uses too much ki energy for my taste._ Gohan dodged out of the way of another series of lightning blasts, seeing that Aldaris was sticking to the same game plan over and over. He flipped around several rounds of them before dashing in on the ground straight at Aldaris with a fist outstretched. Gohan sensed a quick energy distortion and prepared for it. He didn't hit any sort of shield like he expected, but made contact with Aldaris' face. The Templar tumbled to the ground and lay motionless. Lightning shocked Gohan from behind as he hit the ground next to the false Aldaris.

"Argh, can't you come up with something different?" Gohan whined slightly getting up and holding his side. He was both happy and mad at the same time. Aldaris was hitting him with the same Psi storm over and over again, and was drawing it out in his own arrogance. He smiled inwardly now, Aldaris didn't sense what was coming this way.

"Why fix what is not broken boy?" Aldaris laughed slightly.

"Just thought you wanted to fight me on the same terms, not using fancy tricks to hide with!" Gohan dared.

"A battle that would suit you better than I, but I suppose its worth a look since you have not a prayer against my power!" Aldaris said, phasing out of view suddenly. Gohan's eyes lit up, he didn't see where he went at all as he looked and listened for Aldaris. He felt another massive energy surge around his body and dodged to the left. His face met with a three-fingered fist a moment later, stunning him. Another one struck his back followed by several kicks to his stomach. Each blow was severely hard, much more than he would expect from Aldaris. The last punch got him in the temple, and sent Gohan back to the ground in a stunned gaze.

"As you can see, I can fight as well as any of you Saiyans," Aldaris said with a cocky glance at Gohan. Two feral yells came screeching in and attacked in the forms of two Super Saiyans. A distinct blue shield a foot away from Aldaris' head and neck blocked both powerful fists, catching Goku and Bardock by complete surprise. Aldaris barely glanced that way and gave a wave of his hand. Lightning erupted from the blue shield and shocked the father-son duo into submission as they screamed in pain, sending them over Gohan's head into the trees not far from where Vegeta crouched down on one knee.

"Pitiful specimens, its hard to believe I was so interested in your overrated abilities. But I can see that without them I never would have achieved this level of power. To thank you and your kind, I will terminate your existence in the same manner!" Aldaris declared, preparing another lightning blast and sending it streaking towards Gohan from a slight distance. Gohan dodged out of the way and powered up his ki again, a last ditch effort to stall Aldaris.

"Kame, hame,..." he chanted.

"Go ahead boy, you'll just waste your energy again!" Aldaris dared. Gohan concentrated and phased out in a blur, reappearing behind Aldaris.

"HAAA!!!!!!" The thick blue beam smashed into Aldaris' grinning form and blinded Gohan. But when the light cleared, Gohan's face sunk into shock when he saw the blue shield underneath his beam, deflecting the energy around Aldaris.

"As you can see boy, I possess far too much power to be hurt by your pathetic attacks!" he grinned, phasing out himself. Gohan was floored from behind by a clubbing blow. He sat up to see another lightning attack coming his way very quickly. Gohan closed his eyes, knowing he wasn't going to be able to dodge this one. A whoosh of energy sounded right in front of him and he winced but felt no pain. A solid and bright blue blade of energy three feet long and not three inches wide was in front of his body, deflecting all of the lightning with ease. The streaks of lightning spread into the air around the sword, displacing from the target and causing no damage except to the landscape. Aldaris' shocked expression was priceless, seeing the one person he hadn't expected to see.

"Your such a power hungry fool Aldaris, I'm going to take you down!" Verto declared, flipping his sword around a few times before making it vanish and reabsorb into his body.

_Break you down  
Mercy, I cannot allow  
Through your face, My fist will plow  
Watching as your blood pours down  
Lets do this now!_

**Power levels:**

**Super Mystic Gohan: 700,000,000; regular Mystic form: 580,000,000**

**Super Aldaris (linked with pylons): 900,000,000; unlinked: 760,000,000**

**A/N: Yeah Gohan lost, I'm sure you all thought he was going to win the way the first round went, tough luck! Verto's on the scene now, how many minutes is Aldaris going to last, or is this fight going to go the distance like the last one did? **


	55. Reign of Aldaris Ends

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 54: Reign of Aldaris Ends**

"B-b-but the big Saiyan said you were d-d-dead?!" Aldaris stuttered a few times.

"Just like your beliefs that you're invincible, completely false!" I said, keeping a strict eye on his energy. When I first landed I had to act fast to stop that killer blow he was giving Gohan. I had sensed the degree of power Aldaris was using with his Psi storms, and counted myself lucky that he hadn't killed any of them yet and was still just as arrogant as before. Now that I had him backed up and slightly fearful, I could get a better scan of his power. He had a lot of it to, that power up from the pylon nodes had boosted it way past Gohan's Super Mystic level and most definitely mine as well. I was thanking Zeratul a lot for all that training he made me do with meditation. I could tell now that I had won the battle and had yet to even attack. It was the way Aldaris used his energy, almost completely raw, erratic and unfocused. He spread it out as well as I did with energy fields, he just didn't focus it overly well into his attacks. He just let it go and added energy to it when needed, just throwing a ton of energy out there rather than concentrating it into an attack. Had he been using his energy in a more concentrated form, I was willing to bet none of my friends would still be there. My last fight against him only taught him not to use his ki energy apparently, because he was more focused then. My basic training had made me focused to the point where I didn't need a lot of energy to have a big impact, I could only guess Aldaris didn't try to improve himself any. It was ironic to know this since the Psi storm was a very concentrated attack, but now Aldaris had been sloppy with it. Aldaris took a minute or two to settle down, he must have started to gain back his shaken confidence.

"No matter I suppose, I wanted to kill you myself anyway!" he shouted, shooting another potent round of lightning my way. Gohan was still behind me on the ground, so I quickly spread my Psi energy outward and formed a thick barrier a few feet ahead of me. The lightning had plenty of energy behind it, but as I said, unfocused and erratic. It bounced off and split outwards easily, barely making me try to block it. The attack halted, leaving Aldaris a little stunned at his failure. He had put more power behind it than before, but the simplicity of his attacks was laughable.

"Looks like you've attained a pretty good imagination in whatever training you've done lately. Give up Aldaris, you have no idea what I can do to you!" I threatened, inwardly knowing that I was going to have to hurt him anyway. Zeratul's teachings had taught me to be more like Goku in nature, a kinder soul with my abilities. This could feasibly keep me from making a mistake in battle by using positive thoughts and emotions to my advantage. There was nothing positive about this fight, all of us wanted a piece of Aldaris. His elder, the matriarch, had taught me to trust my emotions but keep them under control, making me indifferent overall. I understood it well, it was to better my future choices so I could see past them easier, sort of like Zeratul's lessons but more in depth. Either way, I was going to finish this fight as fast as possible.

"So you have learned to shield yourself against attacks as well, not too bad child. But you're about two hundred years too soon to defeat my power!" he boasted. I sighed, this idiot was going to learn one way or another, hopefully before I was bored from his speeches. In one part I was surprised that I was going to have such an easy time against him unlike last time, fighting Mr. Satan now almost seemed to have more difficulty. _I needn't worry, I'm sure I'm going to have a tougher time against the Overmind._

"I'm warning you Aldaris, give up now," I said one final time.

"That would be the day, boy! Come on, give me your best shot, you won't even scratch me!" Aldaris dared. I looked at him like he was crazy, but if he wanted to be lying defeated on the ground that soon, that was his business.

"Okay, you lose," I muttered, drawing back one hand. I cleared my thoughts and closed my eyes, picturing happy moments and concentrating a pretty decent load of Psionic energy into my palm. I threw in more than I felt necessary, just to be sure I hadn't underestimated Aldaris too much. The white ball grew and spun in my hands, letting it's own lightning streaks emerge in short three inch spurts. I smiled and focused on Aldaris, turning serious and throwing the ball at the same time, guiding it with my hand to right smack in the middle of Aldaris' chest. It struck and faded into him just as I had intended. He gazed down and started to laugh evilly, not knowing of the doom he faced by doing so. I turned my back to him to give Gohan a hand up, who seemed a bit panicked.

"Don't turn your back on him bro, he can hit you with the lightning storm even faster than you said he could!" he said, pointing back at the laughing Aldaris.

"He isn't going to be hitting anyone now," I said with calm confidence. Gohan hadn't seen me use the feedback technique yet, but he soon would see the effect. I sensed Aldaris start to draw on his power, and then a scream of agony came from his throat as he collapsed in pain not a moment later.

"What the?" Gohan managed to ask as bright flashes of white glared off his pale skin.

"I'll be glad to train you on focusing your Psionic energy Gohan, as you can see, this fool has no idea of its potential," I scowled as I turned to see the effects of my attack.

Aldaris was throwing a screaming fit as his energy was turned against him. He tried harder and harder to get up off the ground and send a counterattack my way, backfiring on him every time. Soon it looked more like a baby's temper tantrum than any sort of warrior, whining and crying to whatever gods he worshipped, if any now. It seemed that all of that raw energy had added to the effect even more than I thought it might.

"How is this possible, I have the greatest powers of the universe!" he cried out in pain as the white lightning buzzed around him, preventing him from moving until he calmed down.

"Your evil ways did this, all I did was trigger what needed to be done. Until you change, you will no longer use your power to inflict harm to anyone including yourself. Now leave this place and suffer for your dark deeds from now on! Don't attack us again, or it will be the last time you do so!" I warned, pointing in the opposite direction. He managed to get up, but stopped trying to access his energy, calming the technique to a simple white glow around his body. I still sensed the evil within him, but I turned around to see if anyone needed a healing job, as Vegeta looked the most beat up and exhausted. I heard something click and open from Aldaris. I closed my eyes and searched with my out of body vision, seeing Aldaris slip on a concealed Psi blade from a compartment in his artificial leg, easily activating it's artificial power. I scowled at this but kept my back turned until he did something with it.

"I will never lose to your un-evolved pond scum species you little fool!" he shouted and ran towards me on ground. I grumbled now, seeing that I was going to have to finish this for good. I quickly phased out as he arrived and moved behind the unsuspecting Templar. He stumbled and fell at Gohan's feet, who only looked down, stunned himself at this. Aldaris instead grabbed Gohan's leg and thrust the weapon towards him as he was trying to shake him off.

"Surrender boy! Or your friend gets his just like his mate did!" Aldaris warned as he had the blade near Gohan's chest. _Okay, now you've done it._ I turned my sword back on, and walked forward while Aldaris' head was turned. Gohan was struggling a bit to shake off Aldaris and avoiding the weapon at the same time. He managed to get his hand up near the Templar's face while blocking the other hand with the Psi blade. He shoved him off just as I ran up and spun high with my blade. A severed head bounced onto the ground a moment later, ending the threat of Aldaris once and for all.

"Incredible boy, simply incredible," Vegeta mumbled while I gave him a bit of energy to stand with. Goku and Bardock had suffered damage as well, but not much more than to just knock them out, Vegeta and Gohan had gotten most of it.

"It's not that impressive, that moron just didn't know how to concentrate his energy that well," I said, looking back at the fallen body.

"Considering what he did with it, it is a remarkable accomplishment, be proud of that," Bardock said, giving me a nod. I sensed four low power signals coming close, one of them felt human, the other three were Protoss. Raynor emerged from the woods along with Tassadar and a tall and unfamiliar figure dressed in robes. There was another behind them, and it felt a little familiar but also Protoss, so I couldn't be sure.

"Where is Aldaris, did you defeat him?" Tassadar asked before looking around. All I did was look toward the headless corpse in the field, giving him the answer. Their jaws dropped open, or at least that's the emotional reaction I got from the Protoss. Raynor didn't look too surprised; he was giving off that "Duh" feeling towards his comrades.

"So you're the gifted child of the Saiyans, I am honored," the taller Templar bowed slightly and extended his hand. There wasn't anything misleading about his energy, so I shook it with slight caution.

"I am the former chancellor of the Conclave, Zorbon. On behalf of my race, I extend my apologies for my actions upon this blood shedding scenario that I had created. I beg your forgiveness," he said, dropping to one knee. Even on one knee he was taller than me, until he bent his head further down below to where he was looking up.

"Why are you claiming responsibility for what has happened so far?" I asked.

"Because of my quick and unguided decision to the actions of Aldaris on your planet, some of your lives have been lost and your own capture by the Zerg took place. It was my order that sparked all of the events until now!" he said in a sorrow filled tone.

"Humph, the one that is guilty is Aldaris, he manipulated all of us to this and he has paid for it. Back on your feet, I don't like beggars," I said sharply. He rose back up, a little nervous at my reaction, but he needn't worry too much.

"And the one who you should be apologizing to is Gohan," I said, stepping to the side.

"Forgiven," Gohan said before he got down to his knees again.

"My many thanks to your wise and powerful spirit, may the Kalah smile upon you always, Great One!" Zorbon bowed again. I rolled my eyes slightly, I had a feeling I was going to see this a lot.

**-**

I heard a roar of ships coming from behind, back towards the partially ruined city and the bigger one I had seen beyond it. A large string of ships flew in overhead, Protoss in nature. There were hundreds of them, of all sizes, the bigger Carrier ships took more notice above the swarm of smaller ones. A bright blue hue appeared in front of us not far from the remains of Aldaris, a squad of easily forty zealots and dragoons shimmered into view, weapons on and ready to dice. One loan Templar stood in front of them, the squadron leader no doubt.

"Attention outsiders and traitors of Auir, I order you to surrender immediately. Your assassination of both Praetor Fenix and High Executor Aldaris are the greatest sins and we will bring you to justice with force if necessary!" he announced. I glanced at Vegeta, who looked anxious for any of them to try arresting him.

"That won't be necessary young Templar, Aldaris was behind all of it from day one!" Zorbon said as he stepped up to them.

"The evidence suggests otherwise, Fenix was killed by this young Saiyan as was the great Aldaris and we have it all on file. Protoss law demands he pay with his life! The other crimes these Saiyans have committed against our people demand that they are terminated as well," the Templar said as if he was reading a script.

"I did not kill Fenix, one of our friends was taken by the Zerg and did that, I destroyed that monster back on Earth. Aldaris edited the video evidence of it to make it look like it was me, a bad job of it I might add," I said, recalling that day very well.

"Surely you do not expect your lies to work against us, only Praetor Fenix himself could prove such a lie if it was true!" the Templar said.

"Then proof you shall have!" a voice far behind me shouted out. I turned and about let my eyes fall out of their sockets because they were so wide. It was Fenix, walking out in a similar artificial body that Aldaris had, only this one covered a majority of his body, the damage he suffered had been extensive.

"Did you guys use the dragonballs or something?" I asked Gohan quietly.

"Nope, I guess Zorbon did it when they sent his remains back through that warp gate back home. I think they can bring people back from the dead a little easier than we can. But they probably had to hurry and work on him for a while, I don't know all of the details," he whispered back.

"P-Praetor Fenix?!" the Templar said as the Zealots bowed, he sounded a lot like Aldaris did when I first showed up.

"Stand down commander, you soldiers get back to your posts in the city and prepare to engage a large Zerg force heading this way. You have until ten minutes ago to get a move on!" Fenix stomped out in front of them and ordered. The Zealots scattered until a blue field of energy picked them and the dragoons up, and the ships hauled ass out of there, back to the capitol city. All of this happened in barely a minute, if that. The lone Templar commander bowed at my feet and asked forgiveness. _Ugh, here we go again._

**I'd list the power levels, but they would be meaningless.**

**A/N: Short chapter, but it got the point across didn't it, Aldaris is headless toast. You all knew Verto was going to win, admit it.**


	56. Decision of Distress

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 55: Decision of Distress**

"What are we facing, how large of a force?" I asked as one of Tassadar's new officers found out for me. We had sent the other Saiyans to some place in the capitol that Zorbon reserved for us. Vegeta and the others didn't agree with me handling the Zerg without their help, but I insisted that I needed their help when we went on the offensive, and I wanted that to be within a day or two. They had called most of the Protoss Senate to order to allow the Conclave to re-establish themselves as the ruling body once again. They took a full democratic vote, and with the help of Fenix's appearance, they had an overwhelming margin of victory. He had placed Tassadar and Fenix as commanders of the entire Protoss army for the time being until the crises was over. We were currently aboard the Ganthithor II, some sort of sentimental name that Tassadar gave it, I didn't bother asking why.

"It will take a moment to compile the necessary data on the numbers of Zerg we face, as well the various types of Zerg there are," the Templar replied. I rolled my eyes slightly, but Tassadar saved me the trouble of snapping at him.

"Just a straight number will do young Templar, Verto is well versed on the different strains of Zerg," he said in a kinder tone than I would have used.

"Yes Executor," he said in a slightly apologetic tone. The display screen then popped up to a planetary view showing a large swarm of signals moving towards the capitol city.

"Phew," Raynor whistled beside me.

"Our estimates show about seven hundred thousand Zerg signals out there. A large mix of strains, though there seems to be more flyers than anything else," he said, reading his displayed language.

"Any abnormal energy signals within that clouded swarm, anything out of the ordinary for Zerg?" I asked carefully as I scanned myself, reading nothing else.

"Reading nothing but Zerg coming our way, they will begin to arrive within the hour," he answered, turning back to Tassadar and I for orders. I glanced at Tassadar, wondering what he was thinking of for a battle plan. I already had one drawn out for what I was going to do if there was indeed nothing but Zerg out there.

"Sub-lieutenant, assuming no super powered beings are involved in this battle, what will a simulation show on the results of the battle?" Tassadar asked.

"Entering the data now Executor, it should take a moment to compile and give an estimation of battle," he said, punching buttons rapidly.

I gave Tassadar a questioning glance, but he held up his hand, "Just curious young one."

"With current status of the city's defenses and the assumed involvement of our fleets, we could lose twenty-five to thirty-five percent of our forces, and up to twenty percent of the city may be destroyed. The Zerg forces will break through the outer defenses, but should get no further than that!" he said.

"That's more than we can afford to lose if we are going to mount an offensive against the Zerg, your going to have to fight them alone Verto. Our forces shall remain around and inside the city to intercept any Zerg that get by you," Tassadar said. I nodded slightly, it was going to be the way I preferred.

"Just make sure no one gets in my way. I can handle a lot of Zerg easy enough now, but if any of your people are in the way I don't know if I can protect them well enough with what I plan to do!" I said.

"What is your plan, you can't just walk up to that many Zerg and say hello ya know!" Raynor asked.

"You'd be surprised," I said sarcastically, "No my plan is really simple. When I transform, I can easily emit a low amount of energy that pretty much kills them when they come into contact with it, I barely have to do anything. I'm pretty sure Gohan could do this to," I said, glancing at Tassadar.

"Yes. He has dealt with waves of Zerg in that manner with relative ease," he said, still waiting for my plan.

"So you're planning to just attract them all to you so you can kill them before they can touch you?" Raynor asked.

"It's what I'm going to have to do, their primary Hive cluster to probably too far away to nail from here. If I knew where it was I could just blow it up and we watch them go crazy and kill each other off. I don't want to do it this way, but they will do some damage to the city if I don't, and I want this to end as soon as possible. Much more delay in action against the Overmind will only make things worse," I explained.

"How do you know that?" Raynor asked.

"Because I saw what it's planning to do to everyone everywhere. Auir is just a pit stop in comparison to its plans. However it needs the Zerg, Protoss and Saiyans for it's plan to work, and the more time we spend trying to figure it out its plan, the sooner that plan comes to pass!" I warned, standing and heading for the elevator shafts.

"Wait a moment, what is this plan you are speaking of. We have always suspected that it would try to come to us and continue the ancient Xel'Naga experiments of long ago, is that what you are talking about? And exactly how much time do we have?" Tassadar asked in a serious tone. I shook my head slightly, recalling that I had only told the other Saiyans of this so not to cause a panic within the Protoss ranks.

"We have enough time that I can fill you in when I get back. As far as your ancestors go, nothing like that," I said, seeing Tassadar relax a bit. I hadn't seen any visions of that, only of the future. But that was before the Overmind knew of the Saiyans.

"It's much worse than that would have been," I said as the door shut behind me, sensing the sudden fear of the Protoss as I left.

**Interlude 55.1 –Overmind-**

The Overmind sat in telepathic conference with its Cerebrates, though only he and Daggoth did any of the speaking. The rest were simply there to take the orders, as their minds were not as developed as Daggoth and Zasz had been. His previous well-developed Cerebrate was only that way out of some sort of interference by an outside source, one that even he couldn't pinpoint. It didn't matter though, that one was gone now, erased from existence by the conflict between Verto and his opposite. With Zasz gone as well, only Daggoth remained to be his most effective leader, the rest were a supporting cast.

"_Great father, have our plans been disrupted beyond repair now that Aldaris is disposed of?"_ Daggoth asked. The Overmind's large eye blinked from its chamber, not at all happy with that particular subject. Verto's swift defeat of Aldaris concerned him greatly and was the prime reason he called this conference though no one else was completely aware of it. Aldaris had far more power than he knew what to do with, and was toppled in a heartbeat. Because of the distance and lack of any agents near the battle, he hadn't a clue on how Verto pulled it off, but he knew that Aldaris's energy level was very high at the time just before it plummeted to nothing. The Overmind had Daggoth send over seventy percent of the current standing Zerg forces at the Protoss capitol to buy some time for them to plan. It would be a waste at the end, the combined might of the Saiyans and the Protoss fleet would be way too much to deal with, even with so many Zerg sent.

"_It has indeed dealt us a crippling blow that I did not foresee. It will not be a total loss, we will have to accelerate our dealings with the Saiyans. The Protoss will become ours one way or another, but the child must be dealt with as soon as possible. I want you to build up our interior defenses and the others will support you by expanding our current borders while the Protoss are all in one place. We will allow them to believe that we are too scattered about to be a threat and will lure them in and dispose of them before they know what hit them. Daggoth, I will leave you to deal with the Protoss, I will handle the Saiyans once they come for me!_" the Overmind ordered. The telepathic conference ended abruptly just as an opening in the wall made itself visible. In marched several figures that the Overmind had recently created, superior to their original forms. The largest one in the room stood at the front, bowing before the large eye of the Overmind.

"Broly, are your new soldiers ready to do my bidding?" the eye bounced slightly.

"Indeed they are my lord, though it is a great pity that the boy managed to take the head of Aldaris before they were ready. I seriously doubt that any force on this planet will be a threat to you now!" Broly said with a slightly evil snicker.

"Use caution, my son, your enemies are not to be underestimated. Deploy your forces as I have directed you, and let them come to you!" the Overmind ordered, getting several bows by the new figures in the room as they exited.

-

I floated in the air about ten miles from the outskirts of the capitol city of Auir. Tassadar had given me a communicator similar to a Saiyan scouter so I could keep contact, but I kept it off until I needed it, which I wouldn't. I could see the Zerg clouds on the horizon, but they weren't close enough to attack yet. A few miles behind me were the start of legions of Protoss troops, all them anxious for battle. Most of them were hesitant about my orders that they stay back for their own good just in case something went wrong. Considering they were all more than twice the size of me, it was understandable. But I suppose killing their previous "all powerful" leader was evidence enough that my bark was nothing compared to my bite. As I started hearing the sounds of the Zerg screeching and hissing, I powered up and spread out my Psi energy, making sure they all got a good sense of it. Then I spoke to them gently as their tones of communication changed once they recognized me.

"You can all leave this battle and I won't hurt you, but I can't let you do your master's will and destroy this planet and its people. Turn back before you kill yourselves," I said. I realized how stupid that must have sounded to anyone around, Zerg for the most part didn't listen to anyone besides their masters. They also didn't have a high amount of self-preservation until they have been severed from that master, even then it isn't much since their primal instincts of destruction target everything around them. I just felt I should give them the option of leaving, almost like my warning to them before they sacrifice themselves for nothing. With my ability to control them to an extent, it was worth a shot. I sensed confusion arise in the swarms of Zerg, some of them were actually turning in circles. I sensed another presence in the cluster, although it was simply a will of control to counteract what I had just done. I sensed the few Zerg in the front lines that I had affected get killed right away, apparently whichever Cerebrate sent this wave didn't like what I did to some of its forces. When the swarms got close enough to see, I saw that all of the Zerg were blue, meaning it was the forces of Daggoth's Surtur Brood. I powered up more and transformed into Super Mystic form, spreading my energy out in a thin but potent layer for a good mile or so around me in every direction. Many of the Zerg hissed in fear and came to a halt, getting killed by a stampede that was forced into movement by their master. I spoke again to the swarm, making sure that its controller heard my words before its minions got too close to me.

"You will pay for sending these creatures to their deaths. I will come for you soon you heartless monsters!" I growled. The swarms rushed at me then, entering my energy field and ending their short and miserable lives one by one.

-

I wiped the few tears from my eyes as the last of the Zerg force died at or near my feet. The assault went on for a few hours, piling a tremendous number of Zerg corpses on the ground, the ones that didn't explode that is. None of their attacks ever succeeded in reaching me, so I didn't suffer any damage. Emotionally I was torn apart by what happened, and at the same time shaking my fists in disgust at the Overmind and its agents. Their willingness to send their Zerg slaves at their enemies like cannon fodder disturbed me greatly, even more than Frieza or Aldaris. I vowed I would avenge their deaths by killing their masters. The only thing that soothed my distress was the fact that the Zerg generally had no thoughts and feelings to enjoy or suffer through. I fired a number of mixed energy blasts at the ground around the area, taking care of the Zerg bodies by disintegrating them on the spot and giving them a decent burial. I powered down after checking the area a few times over, just to see if I missed any of them. Some had gone around my energy field, but the Protoss tore them to shreds before they got any farther. I flew back to the capitol, seeing many Protoss cheering my arrival and shouting victory chants. I entered the temple where we were assigned to stay for the duration of our trip. A vast number of high nobles and officers greeted me at the door, I did my best to shake them off with a smile and continue to the room they had assigned me. _I'm beginning to see what the Overmind will do to get its way and why I have to stop it. It's disregard and disrespect of life itself turns my stomach._ As if the word stomach applied to his appearance, I spotted Goku and Bardock in the wide halls ahead of me, munching down as I passed by that mess hall.

"Hey Verto, how did it go? Must have gone really good cause we didn't sense you having any trouble! Want some food? I bet your hungry after a battle like that!" Goku offered the chair next to him. I turned one sad look to him and kept going to my room, the amount of pain I felt on the inside was going to spill over very soon.

"Verto? What's wrong?" Goku asked, coming out of the mess hall behind me.

I sensed Bardock pull his son back in, "Come Kakarot, I think the boy needs to be left alone for now!" I entered my room and lay on my bed, letting down my mental guard and allowing the suffering I had sensed from the Zerg to overtake me. In my time with them, I had never felt that suffering in any other situation other than death. I also understood the actual race better than ever now. The Zerg were victims of the Overmind and its Cerebrates' abuse. They were a former race of something that had been twisted and de-evolved into their present form, never allowed to think or move freely amongst themselves. It was probably many races species that they had once been, animals, humans, maybe even the Protoss themselves. They didn't have minds or souls anymore because the Overmind had stolen them. They were all crying for freedom from this vile creature's reach, and the only freedom they could attain was death. I was the key to their liberation, and they rushed to their deaths as quickly as possible. _I promise to end your suffering and bring your masters to justice._ I then proceeded to cry myself to sleep, despair filled my nightmares, all of them revolving around the Zerg and others that had been destroyed by my hand.

**Interlude 55.2: Vegeta and Gohan**

"Is he asleep boy?" Vegeta asked as he and Gohan were parked outside of Verto's room.

"Finally, I think he was crying the entire time, what do you think happened out there?" Gohan asked as he and Vegeta began to walk the halls. Unlike last time, their injuries weren't severe enough to need medical attention past rest and a series of good meals, so all of them declined that offer.

"I believe that he has seen the Overmind for what it is. A cold blooded and dishonorable creature that sends its own creations to their deaths without a second thought. It's like what Frieza was to his soldiers, they all feared what he would do if they didn't obey him, even if it meant their own deaths. The boy has been through a lot lately, and the training under the Dark Templar has put even more weight on his shoulders. Normally I would simply get him into a fight or two to work off this frustration, however I feel that he will eventually snap because of all of this stress. Their training has made him very efficient as you saw earlier today, it has also made his steely insides softer than water. That personality split and the death of his mate have caused this to happen. He may be powerful and skilled, but he is still just a boy and this is too much strain put upon him. We will probably see the breaking point of this very soon. Stay out of his way when it happens, he will likely do something rash to end this suffering. With luck he will direct his attention towards the Overmind first," Vegeta explained.

"Are you saying he's going to kill himself?" Gohan asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him now, today is an excellent example of this. After he took down Aldaris so easily, I thought that Zeratul's final training in that temple had done him good, but it seems that his fight with the Zerg may have changed things," Vegeta said, sounding concerned.

"If he's going to kill himself eventually, shouldn't we do something about it, you know, try to help him out? We are the closest thing he has to family now!" Gohan suggested.

"I have no intention of preventing it now boy, he's gone past a point of no return without realizing it. I seriously doubt we have enough time to get the Namek Dragonballs to wish the girl back before he resorts to that. I'll be surprised if he lasts a week," Vegeta grumbled as he started to walk off. Gohan stopped him by grabbing his shoulder, quickly removing it when he heard the responding growl.

"Why would you not try to help him, I know I will!" Gohan asked desperately. Vegeta sighed slightly, he didn't want to keep this conversation going, but he knew an answer was due for Gohan to shut up and understand.

"Because he does not need it or want it, the best thing to do is not agitate him nor hold him back. It is a very Saiyan trait that will tell him to regard allies as enemies if they get in the way of contact with the one he loves," Vegeta said calmly, walking off. Gohan stood there for a moment, trying to decipher what Vegeta actually meant by that phrase. He already knew that Fasha being dead was potentially a dangerous wild card for Verto to put up with now, he experienced the same thing to an extent with Videl. He suddenly realized what Vegeta was saying, and why he wouldn't try to stop Verto from doing whatever he would do. He respected Verto and was proud for his power and ability. And now he had the one thing he never had for anyone below him, he had pity for him. Pity for the boy that seemed like his second son, and pity for what he was going through. Pity for having to be one of a chosen few to be heroes, and his young mind was overwhelmed with the responsibility. Gohan nodded slightly without a word, knowing that he would take that secret to the grave or he'd answer to Vegeta. _I hope it doesn't come to that my friend, I wish there was something I could do to help you out_, Gohan thought as he glanced at Verto's door, walking off to his own room a few minutes later.


	57. Planning the Offensive

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 56: Planning the Offensive**

After my next wave of horrid nightmares ended, I pulled myself out of bed, hoping I wouldn't be back any time soon. I went straight to the nearby mess hall for a good meal, though I had trouble eating at my normal speed. I felt exhausted thanks to the bad dreams over my sleep cycle, but I didn't want to go to bed again until I had to. Gohan and the other Saiyans seemed to be watching me very carefully, especially Vegeta. Whenever I looked back up at them though they turned away, but I had a few guesses as to why they had been watching me.

"You guys afraid I'm gonna do something stupid or something?" I asked in a very low tone.

"You could say that," Gohan said after about 30 silent seconds.

"Don't worry about it, I feel horrible and I don't get a lot of sleep, but were not going there with this. If I end up dead, it will be in battle," I said, getting up in search of a human like facility to relieve myself with. Judging by their energy fluctuation, they felt somewhat relieved to hear me say that, but not much. After spending some time trying to figure out a Protoss bathroom, I joined the others on Tassadar's ship. He had somewhat urgent news for us about the day's events, but it wasn't surprising to hear.

"Overnight the Zerg expanded their territory by a great deal, they now occupy forty-five percent of Auir's land surface, primarily in the northern hemisphere. As you can see by the display here, we have detected where the Zerg Cerebrates have taken up residence. The biggest surprise is that most of them have come out further from the Overmind's location, establishing their Broods much further away from the defenses of the Overmind. How should we proceed?" Tassadar asked as he pointed things out.

"Good, we can separate the broods one by one and take them out in the same fashion. Once we take out these four Broods, there is a clear cut path right to the Overmind, we could end this in just a day or two if we pool our resources!" Vegeta suggested, looking straight at the four most spread out Broods on the map. The remaining three were overall closer to the Overmind, but were also the strongest ones judging by what I remembered. _This smells like a trap._

"No, that isn't going to work," I cut in.

"Why not boy, it is obvious right on the map of current Zerg forces!" Vegeta argued.

"We could do that, but the only way we end it in a day or two is losing on our way in. I was with the Zerg long enough to know that they anticipate enemy attacks and often let their opponents make the first move. We take the Protoss fleet in there and I believe we may be the only ones coming back, if any!" I said sternly.

Vegeta growled slightly, but kept it at that, "What do you suggest then boy?"

"We attack the two of the other three Broods. They are the stronger and larger ones and therefore will be more difficult to take down, but we take them out and we have a greater advantage then just going for the smaller ones!" I suggested.

"That doesn't make sense boy! All three of those Broods are farther away and closer to the Overmind. Not only that, the smaller broods can lend assistance easily, we would be dividing our forces rather than staying together and driving a dagger into their hearts!" Vegeta snarled loudly in protest.

"Look, that plan logically makes sense, and therefore we shouldn't go through with it. The Overmind is basically one big brain with special powers. This thing thinks all the time, planning for the future. Trust me, we shouldn't go that way. Look at the positions of the other three Broods compared to the other four. They can lend assistance yes, but the way they are lined up they can just put loads of Zerg in our path to the Overmind, all of them in fact. We might eventually break through it all, but assuming its all Zerg, what are we going to have left when we reach big ugly himself? If we take them out at different angles and proceed to strategically take out the Cerebrates first, they will not be able to assist each other. Let's not forget that he's already made and revived a clone of Broly. Who knows how many of us have been cloned also. He's had plenty of time to get any DNA samples from us just from our previous fights, both on Earth and Char!" I explained more thoroughly. Vegeta slumped his head slightly, he apparently hadn't thought of all that.

"Any Saiyan clones that he may have created are going to be waiting for us when we arrive. And if I were the Overmind and expected us to come straight down the path that looks weaker, that's probably what I would do to counter it. You'd be crazy to assume it would stick with just one clone after everything that's happened so far. I'd wager we won't be seeing that much in the way of the Zerg themselves, after all they aren't that effective against us anymore!" I continued.

"You've got a few points there, but why wouldn't the Overmind just make a bunch of Broly's?" Bardock asked.

"Who's to say he hasn't, but do you remember when we talked to Kerrigan? She specifically said that it took the Overmind a lot of time and energy to revive him. That and I don't think you could have two Broly's on the same side, they'd try to kill each other all the time I'd bet. That and reviving them would burn up energy and resources. Who would want to deal with that?" Gohan asked, bringing up another point.

"Which is why I think there's a chance there's more than one person that's been cloned. Kerrigan warned me about it when we left Char, and the reports said infested Terrans as in more than one. All we have to do is figure out who else has been cloned," I finished.

"How should we proceed then?" Tassadar asked again. Vegeta looked back towards me, giving me the go ahead since I was the one filling in missing facts.

"Well Vegeta's idea to stick together is still good to go with. But attacking all at once in one place will just draw us into a fight with the whole swarm and possibly the clones. I suggest we divide into three forces and attack at either side of the Zerg territory at the same time. A multi-front war doesn't suit the Zerg no matter how many Broods they have. We do to them what they did to us on Earth and slowly chip away at their forces with a well-coordinated attack. Plus we have to factor in that only the Dark Templar, Gohan and I can kill the Cerebrates with our mixed energy. I will go with Vegeta, and Zeratul to Daggoth's Surtur Brood, the blue Zerg here. Gohan, you go with Goku, and Bardock to the Taimat Red Zerg here on the other end. We should be able to divide the Protoss forces easily enough, but I only want you to give our groups five percent of the fleet," I said.

"Wait a moment, who's going to go with the third group? And why only five percent?" Vegeta asked with a smirk just in case I missed something.

"The Protoss fleet is going to be the big distraction while we attack. And this will also minimize Protoss casualties. Fenix will direct the majority ninety percent of the fleet, and will attack up the middle like Vegeta suggested, and Zeratul's brethren will be with them to kill the Cerebrates on the way up! Split up the commanders as you like. The five percent we each take is going to draw the Zerg away from their hives while we go in and take care of the Cerebrates with very little in the way of Zerg around. Any Saiyan clones should either be drawn to us, or they'll stick around the Overmind's area even if he figures this plan out. Once we take a Cerebrate out, our chances of winning this war will dramatically increase. I imagine that we may have a battle on our hands with infested Saiyan clones that are potentially stronger, so we'll have to be in constant communication for this to work!" I said with a slight grin, impressed that I could come up with this sort of designed attack. Hopefully it panned out the way I planned it.

"Any objections?" Tassadar asked. No one shook their heads, all of them seemed agreed very quickly once I explained it.

"The attack begins at seventeen hundred standard hours, make your necessary preparations!" Tassadar said, rising and leaving the room.

"Impressive boy, there are many great Saiyan generals that would have fallen against your stratagems," Vegeta said with pride.

"I learn from the best," I said as we both laughed slightly.

-

Vegeta and I waited patiently aboard the Ganthithor Two as we crossed the lands with one of the smaller Protoss fleets around. I had been doing all kinds of scanning around the areas our group had split off to, to watch for any signs of energy levels other than ourselves. I didn't get anything except Zerg signals in return, almost as expected.

"How long before Fenix's fleet commences their attack?" I asked.

"Five minutes sir," an officer said quickly.

"What's wrong?" Vegeta asked.

"I thought there may have been a change in things by now if there really is any clones to fight out there other than Broly. Logically they would send most of the Zerg after Fenix's larger fleet. I was hoping this would draw the clones out of hiding if there were any more. Maybe I was wrong, but Kerrigan seemed very sincere about this," I said.

"You shouldn't put so much trust into that vile creature. She has been an agent for the Zerg for a very long time and has been known to be crafty and deceitful in our dealings with her, never mind her own kind," Tassadar said from the captain's chair.

"You didn't spend three months with the Zerg like I did. If it wasn't for her we wouldn't be here now, or at least I wouldn't be," I said with a serious tone.

"My apologies, its just that we've never known any infested being to be an ally at any time," Tassadar replied.

"Understandable, but she wants the Overmind dead as much as we do," I answered just as a loud beeping sounded.

"Praetor Fenix has encountered the Zerg sir, shall we signal our commando forces to begin?" the tactical officer asked me.

"Wait a moment, show me a current scan of Zerg forces over their territory," I ordered. Tassadar didn't bother acknowledging it, he probably knew what I had in mind. I watched the overview of Zerg hive clusters not involved in the attack, waiting for either an energy spike or a vast movement in one direction. The scan refreshed itself automatically every few seconds, showing only the clusters of the front line Zerg moving around overly much. About ten minutes of nothing but the same type of general movement before I noted a massive amount of Zerg begin to surge towards Fenix's fleet from a majority of the Hive clusters, save those that were right around the Overmind itself. This left the sides that were to be attacked wide open.

"Signal the other commando fleet to start their attack, were going in," I said as soon as I saw it.

-

Just as I had planned, the presence of Fenix's large fleet had drastically reduced the Zerg's standing forces around Daggoth's Hive cluster, no doubt the other one as well. Our own smaller Protoss fleet nabbed the attention of any other Zerg while Vegeta, Zeratul and I crept into the primary Hive cluster almost undetected. Once we were in we were attacked quickly, but the amount of Zerg present were in miniscule amounts of a few dozen. We proceeded to tear up the Zerg buildings with energy blasts while Zeratul moped up the ground Zerg while staying invisible.

"Verto to Gohan, how are things over there?" I asked through the scouters Tassadar had given us. They were vastly upgraded for better communication, but that was about it.

"_Excellent, we're about to blow up the main Hive cluster_!" he said.

"You have to enter it and go to the bottom level of the thing to get at the Cerebrate, otherwise you'll just blast at empty grounds trying to find it," I said.

"_Got it, over and out_!" he answered. Speaking of which, Vegeta and I entered the Hive cluster once I blew off its roof. At first it was going to be Vegeta standing guard outside and Zeratul coming with me, but something told me to have Zeratul hide in stealth out there while Vegeta and I took care of business. Vegeta couldn't hide in the shadows in case there was trouble, even if he would take on and beat just about anyone who would dare get close to him. I couldn't see where the entrance was to the lower levels, so I simply blew a hole in the floor and we descended that way. Random ground Zerg ran about in this place, low power ki blasts did the job as we slowly damaged the Hive more and more on the way down, but not to the point of collapse just yet. We reached the bottom easily and I ignited my sword with mixed energy, showing a bright green hue instead of blue. I did this for the simple fact that it was my mixed power that was going to hurt the Zerg the most. We entered the Cerebrate's chamber with caution, scanning for anything other than the monster sitting in there. Daggoth's one eye popped up from the side of his unmoving but glowing mesh of a body that filled the room.

"Surprised to see me?" I asked with a glare. He didn't answer, not that I cared.

"I don't care if you don't speak to me. Admitting defeat is hard to do for anyone, now your going to pay for all that you've done! Your master is going to be next!" I said, swinging my sword directly at the eye.

"It doesn't matter what you do here boy, you believe your alliance is going to win this war. You are in for a rude awakening very soon, none of you are leaving this planet alive!" Daggoth finally roared.

"You mean the Broly clone, I can beat him no matter how strong he is!" I said with confidence as I held the blade less than a foot away.

"Then strike me down now and end my existence, but know that I can be returned to life again eventually, and nothing you do here will matter!" Daggoth roared again, sounding like he was laughing.

I frowned slightly, "Let's just put that to the test!" I said, stabbing towards the eye. I was easily within an inch when a sudden telepathic burst of some kind hit my mind. I saw a vision of Fasha, she was suffering somehow. Another flash hit me that repeated her death. A different version of it soon came, and I stopped my attack while me head deciphered the information, my hand holding my head slightly.

"You boy are weak! Your weak emotions towards your loved ones will stall your actions because of your fear to hurt others. The Overmind sees this and will break your spirit slowly, even if it means one piece at a time until you realize that you are nothing! Your former mate is not worth the effort that her parental units used to spawn her!" Daggoth chuckled. His laughter angered me while I backed off, _how dare he bring this up now._

"Your mate is better off dead than with a weakling like you who can't even do his duty when the time comes, always hiding behind the true warriors!" Daggoth dared to say. I heard Vegeta's breath catch just as I glared towards the door. I had turned around to attempt to flush this sudden disparity from my mind, but Daggoth's words did it for me, and I snapped.

"You, Daggoth are the weakling! You send your Zerg slaves at your enemies like cannon fodder, you care nothing for them while they sacrifice themselves for your evil cause. You can't fight a battle yourself and constantly need others to do it for you! Your kind sickens me, and this is the day you pay for it," I growled, not facing Daggoth still.

"I am not weak, I hold no care for these creatures, they are only pawns to reach the ultimate goals set for us by the Overmind. I hold no such fear for any other creature, for they are disposable just like your worthless emotions!" he countered.

"And that is the difference between you and me. My caring gives me strength to protect others, and your kind won't win while I'm around, now die!" I shouted as I spun, throwing my sword straight at Daggoth like a javelin. It stabbed right through the eye and into the body's core. The energy inside Daggoth flashed violently before dying out into nothingness, bleeding out in random spots. I panted slightly in anger towards the creature. Vegeta paused slightly after what he witnessed, but said nothing to continue it.

I sensed the Hive cluster begin to collapse, "We better get out of here!"

Vegeta and I raced to the surface while the remains of the Hive caved in behind us, random chunks of Zerg tissue fell into the deeps, dying on the way down. Outside the remaining Zerg began to go crazy and attack each other in a free for all type melee. The Protoss ships withdrew from the fighting and let the Zerg forces take each other out. The entire Hive cluster had pretty much fallen to the grounds and died, the purple creep was retreating from the dead lands around.

"That went remarkably well, good plan boy," Vegeta said. I sensed something strange as the small Protoss fleet came to us from the south. I didn't see Tassadar's ship, but he had stayed back just in case something went wrong, and I sensed his Templar presence off in the direction we came from.

"What is it boy?" Vegeta asked.

"I don't know, something's wrong here, but I don't know what. I can't sense any power levels, but it feels like were being watched."

"You sure it isn't Zeratul?" he asked.

"No, because Zeratul is right behind you," I said smugly. Vegeta spun to see Zeratul emerge from the shadows there with a grin on his face.

"Verto is correct, there is something not right around here," he said carefully. I spotted a light energy distortion directly below the Protoss ships as I suddenly felt two presences. One of them clearly felt like a Zerg version of Vegeta, even as the real Vegeta was standing next to me. The other one didn't show up on my senses in a regular way, it felt like there was a void of energy there instead of normal air, much like Protoss ships when they are cloaked.

I quickly deduced what it was, "Commander, get your ships out of here right now!" I shouted into the scouter.

"What is the matter, wh-, ahhhh!" the voice screamed over the scouter just as an explosion went off right in the middle of the pack of ships. An energy beam had shot up from directly below and struck the largest ship, blowing it up and a majority of the rest with the single explosion. I frowned while Vegeta and Zeratul went through their gasping phases.

"What the hell? I sense a void of energy and I sense another one of you out there?" he asked.

"Take a guess," I said as two figures emerged from the smoke and debris. They landed in front of us, causing Vegeta to start double taking.

"Look what we found, the mold to the pieces of art, shall we play?" the shorter one asked, igniting more energy within him, his eyes turning blue. Once he started using his power, the void vanished in favor of his similar power. His energy felt familiar now that he was using more than just ki, he felt exactly like my darker self before I got rid of him. As he should, he looked just like I did when I was infested. Since he and the Overmind were linked and I had rid myself of the link, it was safe to say that he was sustained and reborn into this living mirror I was staring at. The taller one had a smirk that only the original could have produced, and possessed the same amount of power.

"Vegeta, you can take your predecessor. The little goody two shoes is mine," the other me said as they both powered up.

"Fine by me," I said in a low voice.

**A/N: Hoowah! Here we go with my own little Clone War.**


	58. Clone Wars

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 57: Clone Wars**

_Bring the violence  
It's significant  
To the life  
If you've ever known anyone  
Bring the violence  
It's significant  
To the life  
Can you feel it?_

"_Verto! What's going on over there, I sense two of you and two of Vegeta?!_" Gohan asked through the scouter.

"Then your senses are working just fine. Watch yourself out there, I'll contact you later once I'm finished with this!" I said calmly, shutting the scouter off. "You might want to stealth and get out of here," I said to Zeratul without turning. I sensed his energy signal vanish almost as I said it. The two Vegeta's both powered up to Super Saiyan two within seconds of each other. The reality of two of them in the same place seemed to get to both of them as they flew at each other. They felt pretty even, but the Zerg version seemed to have more energy, not to mention some regeneration. As those two tore a path through the dead and blasted lands, the other me stepped forward to only ten feet away.

"So, you have gotten a little stronger since we last met," he said.

"You have no idea," I said, waiting for him to make the first move.

"It doesn't matter if you got a months worth of training or not, you can't compete with my power now that you are no longer with the Zerg. Gohan is the only real threat to us, and he will be taken care of shortly. But for now, you are going to pay for what you've done to me!" he boasted, powering up. He hit Super Mystic quickly, and his energy did indeed feel stronger than mine at that level.

I managed to keep cool though, "So it's back to the Overmind's control huh, what happened to those plans of destroying him yourself?" I asked.

"Thanks to you I'm stuck with him forever! He had to give me a new body as you must know by now, and it's impossible to break his grip on me because of it. You had the potential power to overwhelm him all along, but you don't know how to use it, only I did! If you had only cooperated and combined with me, we might have been able to access it, but its impossible now. It'll take years of training to get there again. I doubt he's going to give me that kind of time before getting rid of me! It's your fault, and I'm going to make you pay!" he declared, charging up a big mixed blast behind him. I didn't move, waiting for him to complete his attack. I considered powering up for it, but I felt I better save as much energy as possible. _He's going for the win right off the bat, I guess I'll oblige._

"Aren't you going to power up and give me a classic show down?" he asked with a grin.

"No need for it, punk! But I will give you something to chew on for awhile!" I said, gathering only Psi energy into my one hand.

"Good enough for me fool! Super Galic Gun!" he shouted.

The green beam rushed towards me as I fired the white blast I had in my hand, "Feedback!" The beam slammed into my feedback ball, and quickly shrank into it. The white blast grew slightly until the beam was gone, before shrinking down to normal again.

"Oh no, not that!" the other Verto panicked. I smiled slightly and sent it his way even more quickly. He phased out just as it arrived, reappearing in the air gasping for breath. I stopped the feedback ball where it was, letting it hover back to me slowly.

"How in the hell did you learn that?" he asked, watching the ball and me at the same time.

"Practice makes perfect. Unlike Zeratul's version, this one is stronger and can take anything you throw at it. How do you think I beat Aldaris so easily?" I asked, tossing the ball up and down in my right hand.

"So that's how you did it," he said, flying around slowly. I launched the ball towards him again and allowed it to chase him down while I controlled it. He flew around in circles to avoid the white ball, unable to gain more than fifty feet worth of ground. He then stopped directly ahead of me and flew my direction. I recognized the sudden shift in pattern, he was going to try to get me to hit myself with it and make it backfire. _Nice plan, except it won't work._ I stayed calm and let the ball follow him all the way to me. He had a dark grin on his face as he phased out again, not five feet away. The ball came back to me at the speed I had allowed it, making contact and through me and out of my backside without delay. He felt surprised to say the least while he floated up in the air. I sent the ball into the skies and held it there without his notice, he was still busy gasping at me.

_How do you sleep  
When you live with your lies  
Out of your mouth  
Up from your mind  
That kind of thinking  
Starts a chain reaction  
You are a time bomb ticking away_

_You need to release  
What you're feeling inside  
Let out the beast  
That you're trying to hide  
Step right up and be a part of the action  
Get your game face on  
Because it's time to play  
You're pushing and fighting your way  
You're ripping it UP!!!  
_

"How did you do that?" he shouted down.

"It's easy when you're not evil," I said with a chuckle. He growled loudly and charged another big blast. I was prepared to send it back in the same way, except he then turned the other way.

"Super Galic Gun!" he shouted again, shooting the beam at the planet surface. _Blowing up the planet, aw crap!_ I powered up to intercept it, but it was moving way too fast to stop. Just inches away from the ground, he turned his hands upward suddenly, forcing the beam to soar into the skies and hit a distant asteroid in space. It lit up the sky slightly, but he was staring at his hands in surprise.

"Why did you interfere, it's the only way to stop him!" he said loudly. I rose into the air while he seemed to talk to himself, I had a pretty good idea who he was speaking to.

"Why do you care about the planet, you're going to kill off the Protoss anyway! Trust me, I know this is the only way to stop him!" he shouted at the air. A big ki blast came my way from behind, so I moved out of the way just as it arrived, seeing it strike the other Verto and send him to the ground. I spun to see a battered Vegeta, the Zerg version. He wasn't standing there very long before another beaten up and armored Vegeta tackled him from behind as they rolled around in the dirt. _He sure wasn't aiming for me_. Zerg-Verto was struggling to get up for a moment, his own ally's attack had bruised him pretty good since he was blindsided.

"Argh, he still isn't letting me fight my own battles!" he groaned as I stepped closer.

"You blowing up the planet and killing the Protoss isn't part of his plans. I'm surprised you didn't know what they were, because I learned about them through his link! You kill all the Protoss and it ruins his sick ideas! As far as blowing up the planet to beat me, that won't work either!" I said sharply.

"The Protoss are worthless, he only wants to harness the power of the Saiyans!" he said, his teeth clenched.

"Wrong-o," I said, shaking a finger at him, "He obviously didn't tell you everything. Think about their potential, think about what Aldaris pulled off with only his Psionic power. Now picture someone like us being able to channel the power of Broly and Aldaris in one combined force!" He let that fly through his head a few times before realizing what it meant.

"Impossible, we're the only ones who can pull it off. Gohan can't even harness its full potential!"

"Oh really, well he apparently understands enough thanks to spying on us long enough to figure it out!" I said, bringing the feedback ball back down from the skies undetected. "I'll say this only once, abandon that freak and help us fight him, we can worry about the rest later, and I can show you how to remove the Zerg genes from your body and how to dump your evil feelings! Only then would I consider rejoining with you, otherwise I will destroy you here and now!" I warned, holding the feedback ball about thirty feet above him.

"Forget that, learn to be a worthless pacifist like you all over again, I'd rather die!"

"So be it," I sighed, dropping the white blast right onto his head. White lightning erupted while he screamed in shock, trying to get out of it. He was on the ground just a moment later, struggling as the Psi bolts struck with undying fury. I powered up now, combining my energy and shooting into Super Mystic.

I pulled up a massive amount of energy, more than enough to finish him off in this weakened state, "Super Galic Gun!"

"NOOOO!" he screamed as my stronger green beam smashed into him. His body lifted off the ground as my negative feeling towards him increased the intensity of the feedback affect. I discontinued my beam as his body surrounded itself with green and white auras and explosions, causing him loads of pain. His signal dropped and his body started to crumble apart, the Zerg cells melted right off while this happened. Even as his body vanished, his signal did not, _What the hell is happening to him?_ The violent light show continued until a dark purple form of only energy emerged underneath the green and white. It took the shape of clear cloud, coloring the air inside dark. The energy from the Feedback-Galic gun came back towards me like it was reflected. I quickly sidestepped and reabsorbed it with the green sword, keeping clear and positive as I did so it didn't harm me. I separated the feedback ball from the Galic gun energy and held it in the sword, turning it very light green. The dark energy cloud then soared off into the air once released, vanishing into the sky. I felt it leave the planet quickly, and lost it in the darkness of space.

One thought reached my mind from an outside source, _"We'll meet again, and next time I will destroy you for what you've done!"_ I sighed as the signal vanished, hoping that it would never come to pass.

-

I watched the two versions of Vegeta fight it out for awhile, neither one really gained ground on the other. They did beat the living crap out of each other though. It wasn't until both Saiyans shot up to Super Saiyan three that I noticed a difference. Infested Vegeta recovered much faster and his energy remained high whereas the original Vegeta had burned his up. They went at it a little more, this time the infested one gaining the upper hand and slowly beating him down. He started charging something that would give Vegeta more than a headache when I jumped in. I extracted the ki from the sword and watched, as it turned white from the Feedback effect that was still within it, as I hadn't disposed of it to save energy. I tossed the sword like a spear right at the infested Vegeta. He dropped to the ground in pain as it impaled him through the knee before turning his energy against him. I gave Vegeta a hand up before we both trudged over to the fallen infested Saiyan. I could hear him cursing and struggling with his predicament.

"You can have the honors," I said.

"Gladly," Vegeta growled, charging a big bang attack just for his counterpart.

"It doesn't matter if you destroy me, you won't beat the Overmind. I'll be back soon to take care of you!" the infested Saiyan grumbled in defiance.

"We'll just see about that!" Vegeta growled, firing. The blue ball exploded on impact, leaving nothing but just a few smoldering Zerg cells in a good-sized crater.

"Good riddance!" Vegeta growled, powering down as I helped him stay on his feet.

"Verto to Gohan, do you read?" I asked, pressing the scouter button. He didn't answer, but I heard a lot of activity on the other end. Mostly shockwaves and sonic booms followed by a lot of pain filled groans. I guessed that his scouter must have been knocked off for me to hear anything and also not get a response from him. The big hint of trouble was how many Kamehamehas I heard being chanted. I scanned that area of the planet, getting back a lot of big ki signals and one mixed one, meaning Gohan. It was too far away to determine who was fighting who, but I had a good clue.

"Looks like we need to get a move on," I said, lifting into the air, Vegeta followed quickly.

**Interlude 57.1 –Outnumbered-**

**Gohan sighed as he cut the connection with himself and Verto**. He had sensed another Verto and Vegeta arrive there along with a fierce Zerg signal mixed in with them. _Verto's new training outta take care of that problem quickly!_ He and Goku had entered the Hive full of red Zerg a moment ago, but hadn't found the Cerebrate yet. Gohan blasted a hole in the flooring of the first level, seeing the big opening in the ground leading to the bottom.

"Wow, so they live underground. Hey this looks like a hotel on the inside!" Goku noted blankly.

"I doubt any of the rooms have a view dad," Gohan groaned slightly.

"No food either, bummer," he laughed slightly.

"Verto said bottom floor, right?" Gohan asked, getting back to the mission at hand.

"Yeah I think so," Goku replied. They encountered little Zerg at all on the slow descent down, as most of them were in battle with the Protoss. Gohan found the chamber quickly as they landed, proceeding inside and catching sight of the Cerebrate.

"Intruders! Come my pets, eradicate them!" the red Cerebrate called out. Gohan charged a quick green blast and threw it at the glowing creature, killing it instantly as it passed through and exploded. The energy within it dimmed out, signaling that it was indeed dead.

"Well that was easy," Gohan noted. Goku's eyes narrowed instantly as he sensed something else outside.

"I think we need to get back to your grandpa, Gohan," he said with caution. Gohan picked up a bunch of new energy signals outside, all of them familiar and all of them tainted with Zerg.

"Oh boy, this could be bad," he said. They ran out of the chamber and shot through the crumbling Hive, avoiding large chunks of dead Zerg debris on the way out. Once on top, no Protoss fleet was nearby, except for the burning wreckage scattered about. They found Bardock in a defensive stance on the ground, powered up to Super Saiyan two.

"What is it grandpa?" Gohan asked as he landed.

"I'm not sure, I didn't even sense them until they were on top of me," he said in a sour tone. Gohan barely turned up to see a potent ki blast come their way. All three Saiyans jumped up and out of the way, allowing the blast to blow up the rest of the hive, whatever was left anyway.

"Who's there?" Goku shouted. Smoke had clouded his vision of the source of the energy, but several figures emerged from it, seven of them. The smoke cleared, revealing their identities to an extent.

"Oh man, I can sense their evil energy, this is going to be tough," Goku said in all seriousness.

"What the, Kakarot? My crew?" Bardock asked.

"Huh, how did they get Goten and Trunks?" Gohan asked.

"What is the matter gentlemen, see something you didn't expect?" an evil voice belonging to Goku's opposite asked.

_How do you live without playing the game  
Sit on the side and expect to keep, sane  
Step right up and be a part of the action  
Come get a piece of it before it's too late  
Take a look around  
You can't deny what you, see  
We're living in a violent society  
Well my brother let me show you a better way  
Now get your game face on because it's time to play  
You're pushing and fighting your way, you're ripping it up_

Gohan gauged the power levels of his opponents as more of the surprise talks continued. The Zerg had sent out more infested Saiyan clones that included: Bardock, Tora, Shugesh, Borgos, Goku, Goten and Trunks. Seven in all, and a little stronger than the originals plus the slight regeneration. It wouldn't be like on earth where the infested Borgos could regenerate easily and had more power, this would be more like a normal Saiyan fight. The Overmind had made the mistake of adding more energy and less matter back then, much like his other agents, and thus it could be beaten. The newer and slightly more powerful versions of the Saiyans were a lot harder to beat, as they retained stronger bodies that didn't need a heavy dose of regeneration to be effective. Despite their added power, Gohan knew he was stronger than all of them, even at his base Mystic level. What concerned him was how many there were, and what should happen if he had to fight all of them at once. Going Super Mystic would solve that problem, but he was also trying to conserve energy for their next encounter with Broly. He knew very well they were going to run into him again. _Guess I'll draw it out until Verto gets here, I'm gonna have to in order to save power for Broly._

"So how are we going to do this?" Bardock asked.

"Together!" Goku summed up quickly.

"Works for me, but were going to need to be careful and not burn up too much power. If you get the chance, try to take them out as fast as possible!" Gohan suggested.

A laugh filled the battlefield, "Unlikely, we will leave you in your graves today!" Infested Bardock cackled as his green tail swished behind him. Gohan powered up to his Mystic level maximum, fully intent to not resort to Psionic energy if he didn't have to. Goku now kicked up to Super Saiyan two, pulling up as much power as he could hold in that form. The infested Saiyans all powered up at the same time, to whatever maximum form each fighter had. Goku and the infested Kakarot seemed more than ready to take each other on, both at Super Saiyan two. Bardock and the infested Bardock wanted to do the same. That left Gohan with the rest of them as the fighter pairs took off into the air.

"Kid, surely you don't think you can take on all of us?" Infested Tora asked.

"I can and I will," Gohan said, standing ready for their move. Shugesh flew in quickly as soon as Gohan finished his answer. Gohan dodged and blocked Borgos"s flying punch. He kicked him away and deflected Tora's kick as he flew in. Shugesh and the boys jumped in as soon as Borgos came back, and it was five on Gohan as he moved just fast enough to block and deflect their attacks. He quickly planned to take them all out one at a time while they attacked him, trying to decipher who had more of a weakness that he could exploit. He targeted the cloned boys first, due to their lack of strength. He managed to get Shugesh and Borgos off of him with a few blocked kicks and over the back throws. He blasted Tora away from him and waited for the younger boys to fly in. He phased out as they arrived and double knife handed them in the back of the neck. They hit the ground hard and lay there for a moment. Gohan phased out again, this time near Shugesh. He kneed him hard in the face and grounded him with a nasty punch to the chest that removed some Zerg tissue just by the impact. Borgos got a similar treatment before he spotted Tora again. Gohan charged a Masenko just for him and let it fly. Tora dodged out of the way, right into Gohan's waiting fists as he made mince meat out of his upper body and head before sending him to the ground as well. A bright golden flash went off beneath him. Gohan looked to see a massive power up taking place, but it wasn't from the adult Saiyans. The bright golden dome of energy slowly faded, leaving behind a child Super Saiyan three. _Oh great, should have known that was coming,_ Gohan thought as he groaned.

_Bring the violence  
It's significant  
To the life  
If you've ever known anyone  
Bring the violence  
It's significant  
To the life  
Can you feel it?_

Infested Gotenks chuckled as he started pronouncing himself as the god of death, much to the chagrin of anyone nearby that stopped to witness it. Tora barked at him to get a move on as he recovered himself, barely getting the fused Zerg child to do much more than stretch a bit. Gohan smirked slightly, _Same attitude also, this shouldn't be too bad then._ He saw Gotenks stomp into a stance much like a sumo wrestler would, and then crossed his arms in front of his face.

"Super Ghost Machinegun!" Gotenks shouted out. Gohan was stunned slightly by the name of the attack, until a lot of white blobs spurted out of Gotenks" mouth at a high rate of speed. They all directed themselves at Gohan quickly much like machine gun fire. Gohan flew out of the way as the incoming white gobs exploded on contact with each other. Gotenks redirected his aim in Gohan's path of movement, tearing an explosive trail across the skies. Gohan frowned at this, he couldn't get down to Gotenks easily if he had to keep moving away from the ghosts. As he was flying away from the constant barrage of ghost attacks, Borgos came out of nowhere and blindsided him along with Shugesh. He managed to block their blows and avoid Tora flying in, but missed Gotenks' flip kick from behind, knocking Gohan's scouter off of his ear and somewhere in the field of battle. Gohan hit the ground hard as Gotenks landed in front of him and powered up with all of his energy.

"Victory Cannon!" he shouted as the immense ki blast erupted from his throat. The beam tore a nasty path of destruction and hit Gohan straight on, leaving a large explosion. The light and smoke cleared shortly afterwards, but revealed an angry and frustrated Gohan, who's armor plating had torn and fallen off.

_So much for saving energy, guess I'll have to take them down the hard way!_ He thought as his aura flared upwards. He dropped his ki level and called on his Psi energy, turning his eyes blue before he lit up with silver energy. The four infested Saiyans had to block against the fierce wind his transformation kicked up. He barely let them take in his new form before he phased out and reappeared directly behind Tora. One kick about took his head off before he threw him into the air and shot a big green blast at him. The explosion left nothing behind except ashes. Bardock and Goku both glanced up from their current fights to witness this, as did their counterparts. They had been having a Kamehameha duel between the four of them, but Gohan's sudden angry surge drew them away from each other to observe what was about to happen. Gohan moved as quickly as lightning to Borgos' position, letting his eyes see better days with his fists. A quick mixed energy blast decided his fate. Shugesh charged in from behind, only to be backhanded while Gohan stared forward at Gotenks. A back kick that almost went through Shugesh preceded the energy blast that killed him. Gotenks' eyes were wide in fear now as he took off to run the other way from Super Mystic Gohan. He ran into a brick wall as Gohan appeared in front of him and kicked him in the side. Gotenks flipped back up and rapidly threw numerous ki blasts at him. Every one of them missed and tore apart the dead lands behind.

"Oh crap," Gotenks managed to say before another kick hit his face. He didn't even see the green beam that finished him, but screamed until his body was gone when it hit.

Infested Bardock and Kakarot backed up now that their reinforcements were gone, seeing that were clearly outmatched by Gohan. They whispered to each other as Goku and Gohan checked on Bardock, who was a little beaten up.

"You okay, father?" Goku asked.

"Yes Kakarot, I'm fine, but I think those two are about to do something," Bardock shrugged off his son. Gohan narrowed his eyes as he pierced through their enemy's whispers, trying to figure out what they were up to. They dropped back to where they were lined up with each other but spread apart by easily a hundred feet, and their power levels were very close to one another. _Fusion? No they are too far apart, what are they planning?_ Gohan spotted a white energy blast forming in Infested Bardock's hand when he realized what they were planning to do. He quickly pinpointed two distinct tails on his opponents. _Oh no, if they transform as Super Saiyans…_ he barely thought out before the white blast made its way into the skies. He shot a quick energy beam to take it out, but missed when it suddenly dodged to the right. The great white blast shimmered into the sky and exploded, showering them all in its light. Gohan shot another beam at it just as he sensed them both start to change, destroying the fake moon on contact. To his great surprise, this didn't stop the change at all. He glanced over at his grandfather, trying to figure out why he didn't start to transform, seeing that Bardock had in fact not looked up at the fake moon. Two large shadows appeared over them as infested Bardock and Kakarot grew into huge apes with partially green and golden fur, their power levels shooting through the roof. Two loud roars followed the finished transformation, making Gohan wonder more how they pulled it off.

"It must the Zerg genes, they might be able to keep the transformation without the help of a moon. After all they can interfere with normal energy levels," Bardock noted, still shocked himself.

"Okay, anyone got any ideas on how to beat them?" Goku asked, scratching his head as he stared upwards.

"Anyway we can," Gohan whispered.

**Power levels: (got a bunch of them)**

**Verto: 300,000,000; Super Mystic: 600,000,000**

**Zerg-Verto (SM): 620,000,000**

**Vegeta (SS2): 460,000,000; SS3: 570,000,000**

**Infested Vegeta (SS2): 475,000,000; SS3: 590,000,000**

**Goku (SS2): 470,000,000**

**Infested Kakarot (SS2): 475,000,000**

**Bardock (SS2): 440,000,000**

**Infested Bardock (SS2): 460,000,000**

**Gohan (Mystic): 580,000,000; SM: 700,000,000**

**Infested Gotenks (SS3): 540,000,000**

**Infested Tora (SS2): 450,000,000**

**Infested Borgos and Shugesh (SS2): 430,000,000 each**

**Infested Kakarot and Bardock (Golden Ape Form): TBD, but its going to be big.**


	59. Sending a Message

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 58: The Reach of Infestation – Violence Fetish part 2**

"_Commander Verto, come in please_," Fenix announced into my scouter. I chuckled slightly and shook my head as Vegeta groaned. The whole honorary commander title bothered me more than it did Vegeta, and that was saying something.

"Go ahead," I said as I pressed the button. Vegeta and I were probably about halfway to Gohan and the others, flying over a lot of dead Zerg lands. Any Zerg we spotted were pretty much fighting with each other with little in regards to organization.

"_The four Zerg broods have been destroyed. Our forces took quite a hit, but your battle plan appears to have been successful, we are now reading only one active Brood away from the Overmind itself. We are also reading tremendous energy levels and distortions coming from Commander Gohan's general vicinity_," he reported. I had detected a drop in energy levels for a short time after Gohan kicked it up a notch. However I soon sensed two huge powers that concerned me, both were as high as Aldaris had been when I fought him.

"Yeah I'm sensing the same thing. Request that you go back to the capitol and rest the remainder of your forces, we'll handle whatever Gohan is facing out there! Oh and send a ship over towards where we were, Zeratul needs a lift and we are heading over to help Gohan," I replied, hoping he wouldn't argue with it.

"_Understood_!" Fenix said quickly, cutting the chatter as he closed the connection. As soon as his transmission ended, Vegeta and I both heard some sort of loud smashing noise coming over from Gohan's scouter. It sounded like something or someone was getting trampled or blown apart by energy blasts, but I didn't hear the usual sound of an explosion that generally came with that.

"Verto to Gohan, come in Gohan!" I tried again once I started hearing this. No response came, and I considered using telepathy to contact him. However since his power level was so high and he was certainly fighting someone very powerful, it may distract him, which would not be good. After about half a minute of this, whatever had been tearing up the lands must have hit the scouter and it gave us a generally unpleasant high-pitched noise before no sound came at all.

"What do you think it was?" I asked.

"Not sure, but judging by the power I am sensing, it isn't something to be trifled with. We should move carefully," Vegeta warned.

"Agreed," I nodded as we flew closer towards the massive energy sources.

**Interlude 58.1: Power of the Golden Ape**

_This wasn't what I had in mind for today's events,_ Gohan thought as he dodged a mouth beam from the Zerg version of his father. Since Infested Kakarot was slightly stronger than the infested Bardock, he had elected to gun against him while Goku and the real Bardock went for the other. He was regretting that decision a bit, but splitting the two giant monkeys up sounded reasonable at the time. They had gone for the two golden tails multiple times, only to get swatted away quickly. They hadn't been hit by their large attacks yet, but the energy beams were getting closer than Gohan would have preferred.

"Keep running you worthless son, you will taste my wrath eventually," Kakarot growled in a big burly voice as he dug his huge hands into the ground, narrowly missing Gohan again. _Man, I've got to get that tail cut off!_ Gohan thought as he soared through the air. An energy beam came at him from behind, one that had been aimed at Bardock and Goku from the other giant infested Saiyan. His eyes went wide as he phased out of the way. As he reappeared below it, a large furry hand nailed him and sent him skidding along the ground, tearing up his bodysuit in multiple places. He groaned a bit as he pretty much hurt everywhere after that kind of hit.

_All right big guy, let's see about cutting you down to size!_ Gohan thought as he wiped the blood from his mouth. He slid into stance and shot a fairly large green Kamehameha at the huge ape. He cut off the beam a few seconds after releasing it, seeing what Kakarot would do about it. The golden ape put out his hands to block it, leaving him a good opportunity to move undetected. Just as the beam smashed into Kakarot's hands, Gohan teleported out. He reappeared and shot a quick overhand series of energy bolts straight at the base of the large Saiyan's golden-green colored tail, as he was a sitting duck. Most of them struck as the huge ape growled in pain, but to Gohan's great surprise, it didn't cut it off. It wounded it in several places and was certainly felt, but it didn't do much other than bleed a whole lot. Gohan flew up into the air while Kakarot dealt with the serious pain in the ass, watching the bloody and broken outer tissues slowly start to mend themselves almost as soon as it was injured.

_Great, now what,_ he groaned slightly. He wasn't allowed another moment to think about it as the other infested ape came at him from behind. He dodged upwards, but got swatted as the much bigger Saiyan anticipated it. Another crater formed after Gohan hit it, smashing through whatever rock was there. He held his silver hair slightly as his head pounded in tune with his heartbeat. His aura flickered a bit, causing him to groan even more. He was starting to lose power, the constant demand for his Psi energy to be regulated became a pain when using the Super Mystic level, and the fusion of energies wasn't easy to handle for a lengthy amount of time. It didn't help when Gohan had a lot of extra ki power to use, it could upset the balance at almost any point if he got too angry. He sighed and dropped back into Mystic form, but released his extra ki power and kept his Psi active, just in case he needed it.

"Hahahaha, looks like your starting to run out of gas, what a shame. Now I'll smash you into the ground so far that you'll end up on the other side of this mud ball of a planet!" Kakarot roared as Infested Bardock joined him at his side. Goku and Bardock came down and landed next to him, looking pretty bruised, but for the most part had been able to avoid the other monkey's huge blows, as they were indeed trying to single out Gohan. They had also gone for the tail, with not much better luck than Gohan.

"What now?" Bardock asked as he noticed the two giant apes lowering themselves just a bit. When they're hands dropped back, it was a pretty good hint. Then both apes rose into the air while charging two very big beams in their palms, aimed straight at the Son trio. The skies darkened as the light from these two blasts lit up the area with their evil energy.

"You can dodge this if you want, but this planet will go up in flames if you do!" Kakarot threatened.

"We can't, we have to send it back at them," Gohan said, gathering all of his energy at once. Goku shot up to Super Saiyan three instantly, knowing what Gohan had in mind as Bardock joined their power up.

"Ka...me...ha...me...HAAAA!" all five warriors shouted at once. The two huge beams merged into one just as the other three came together and clashed with it. The struggle seemed to be over already, as the upper blue beam was slowly pushing the other into its owners foot by foot.

"Gohan, concentrate!" Goku urged, "We have to do it together, we can't let them win!" Bardock brought his foot backwards a bit to step into his attack better and added more energy while doing so. The two apes had a large grin plastered on their cruel faces, seeing their attack was barely having resistance.

"Now you all die!" Kakarot roared as he pushed his energy further with his infested father following suit right beside of him. The blue beam plummeted to the ground more quickly as the Son family pushed with all their might to stall it. All three of them pushed their full energy outwards at once, causing both Goku and Bardock to drop to Super Saiyan one as Gohan kept going.

"We can't quit now!" Goku shouted encouragement as he managed to push his power back to level two and kept his effort up. Bardock kept going with what he had left, but it wasn't much. The two apes laughed slightly as their beam was stalled in mid air, and they weren't even tired yet.

"Is that all you can do?" the giant Bardock laughed aloud.

"Please, father, give them some credit. They are giving us a good show before they peel off like dead skin from our feet!" Kakarot laughed even harder. Gohan was now starting to shake, he was dangerously low on energy; though his family wasn't any better off. His anger at the two cruel Saiyans above sparked his power a bit and he disregarded his well-being and went for it all. His hair went silver again and the great beam turned slightly green. The beam shoved against the upper one, surprising the golden apes a bit.

"I guess he really wants death, he must be going insane!" Kakarot roared with laughter along with his counterpart. Both of them laughed for about five seconds before a sudden pain erupted in their tails. They kept their power flowing, but looked behind them to see two large golden tails plunging to the ground, and clean burn marks in place of their own. Not far away, they spotted another silver haired warrior with a green energy sword in hand.

"Oh shit!" they both uttered. Their bodies started to shrink greatly as their power levels dropped. Their beams did not power down though, and the stalemate continued without much effort on either end as the Son family were down to their knees panting harshly and barely keeping awake. The silver haired figure floated downwards from the powerless apes and shouted towards Gohan.

"Yo, hears your chance!" Verto shouted. Gohan and Goku looked up to see the former giant apes were down to normal size and their beams were fluctuating a lot. Three feral yells of pain came all at once as a final burst from the Son family rode the Kamehameha wave all the way to the failing giants. Kakarot cringed in fear, but saw that his counterpart was closer to the wave than he was. He shut off his power and dove for the ground just as it arrived. Infested Bardock was blown into smithereens as the overly large beam smashed through his molecules and drove into space. Normal lighting returned, showing one infested Saiyan huffing and puffing while the Son family had all but passed out in their normal forms, drained completely. Kakarot grinned as he slowly stood, he believed that he now had the advantage.

-

I frowned slightly as the infested Goku had gotten back up despite the exhaustion he must be feeling from burning up that much energy while transformed. Vegeta and I were very surprised to see this cross of the Ape form and Super Saiyan form, making us wonder why we hadn't tried it out with me before all of this business with the Zerg. I instantly knew why though, that kind of power was too hard to control. Probably the only reason these two pulled it off was their already high power levels, and the fact that they had Zerg genes to assist them. Those reasons and possibly combined with the upper influence of the Overmind. I had powered up quickly and flew in while they were distracted to cut their tails with my energy sword. Gohan and the others were so tired that they didn't even know what had happened, they were only on guts and instinct at that point. Once the skies had cleared and the infested Bardock was gone, the Son trio had collapsed. Their power was almost down to nothing by what I sensed, they had given it all to save the planet, and themselves. The reality of it all was that the two big apes were probably really aiming for them, the Overmind would have had a cow if the whole planet blew up just like earlier. _It's okay guys, I'll handle this one,_ I thought as I turned to stare down the infested Goku. I quickly decided that he didn't deserve that title, his Saiyan name Kakarot fit his evil programming much better.

"So, you ready to have a go with me?" I asked with a death glare. Vegeta had flown in shortly thereafter, landing near the others to check their vital signs. He quickly rose to watch what was about to transpire. Kakarot was still catching his breath, but I could sense his Zerg cells recharging his ki power slowly. The evil in his spirit grew more hostile by the moment, and I knew then that this wasn't going to be any sparring match. He didn't deserve that luxury anyway. I detected energy flowing to him from the air, coming from the distant West. It wasn't a whole hell of a lot, but it was noticed because it seemed to be coming from the Overmind. He powered back up to Super Saiyan three just a moment later. I frowned slightly as it rose to just under my own power level. It also showed me something: That the Overmind was starting to get desperate. From what I could tell, he hadn't sent out the big gun yet, no Broly at all. I had detected a lot of familiar power levels, but Broly wasn't one of them. For the Overmind to resupply his minions with fresh energy, it showed me that it was fearful of my abilities. Kakarot's power then matched my own within a few moments, and I decided that it was time to act before it got any bigger. _Guess I won't disappoint his worries._

_So tell me what am I supposed to be  
Another god damn drone  
Tell me what am I supposed to be  
Should I leave it on the inside  
Should I get ready to play  
You're pushing and fighting your way  
You're ripping it up!_

_Bring the violence  
It's significant  
To the life  
If you've ever known anyone  
Bring the violence  
It's significant  
To the life  
Can you feel it?_

I separated a small part of my fused energy into a Psionic blast in my hands**,** but turned it into a positive force of justice in the process. _I'll go for the easy win first, it should help me determine my next move. If this version of Goku was being directly controlled or at least influenced by the Overmind's watchful eye, I'm going to know rather quickly_.

"Feedback!" I shouted, letting the more potent attack fly right at Kakarot. He ignited his aura and flew away from it just as he heard my words. _Yep, he knows about it, oh well, can't have all the easy battles._ I guided it towards him anyway, following his golden trail through the surrounding area. He threw ki bolts at it to try and trip me up, but I casually avoided them with my concentration, making the white blast accelerate a great deal towards him. He stopped and powered up for it. It smashed into Kakarot and started to work its magic with a sudden drop of his energy. He cringed tightly and balled up a bit, his power surging against the power of my attack and stalling it.

_Shit, that over grown weed has figured it out, oh well._ In truth it was probably the fighting brain of Goku's that had figured it out, and the Overmind's possible warning of its affects. The other version of me had recognized it and the Overmind probably observed its properties while it hit him and the infested Vegeta in a relatively close amount of time. I wasn't sure how fast the Overmind's brain could work, but I figured the secrets of that attack would eventually be revealed. Zeratul had warned me that the attack could be countered if the enemy acted fast enough, or was purely evil and powerful enough to do it, no matter what energy was being wielded. Basically they could shield themselves from it, or at least partially. Then their evil energy would overload the positive and cancel it out, making the small amount of Psi energy worthless. Then it could easily be dispersed back into the air once they powered back up. Kakarot's intelligence in the arts of battle had proven this theory correct, and now the Overmind would know by default. I growled slightly as the white lightning slowly lifted away from Kakarot's aura and dispersed into the air harmlessly while he caught his breath again, his power level dropping off notably. _Good enough, he's drained. That feedback energy should be able to serve a dual purpose if I act on it now. _

I gathered the leftovers of the feedback move and held it into place around Kakarot, layering it up and preventing it from moving. Blue Ice formed very quickly around Kakarot, surprising him to say the least. As soon as it was formed, I started flying towards him with full speed. The Ice glowed gold from inside and broke apart an instant later as he powered out of it with a mighty war cry. His determination to break it and success allowed me the opening I wanted. I clobbered his neck as hard as I could with a forearm, about taking his head off in the process as he fell backwards from my quick blow. I didn't dare let him recover and shot towards him just as he fell. I dug both fists into his chest and stomach as I collided with him, sending him into the hard ground with deadly force. I jumped back as the barren lands split from the impact, powering up and charging an energy blast in preparation.

I felt an energy surge from his position and released it, "Super Galic Gun!" The green beam surged into him as he shot out of the ground, clipping him and sending him into a nearby cliff. The beam smashed through him once he stopped moving with it and it exploded, leaving a good hole in the mountain. Kakarot's power level dropped as fast as his body did, going almost as low as the real Goku was now. I floated over there as Vegeta joined me in the air, landing at the base of the fractured landscape. Kakarot was in shreds now, and not in a good way. Everything below his waist was missing, and there were deep wounds everywhere with barely a sign of any Zerg cells on his skin surface. Blood and intestinal fluid leaked out of whatever was at the bottom of his body, and also out of his throat as he choked on it.

"You didn't have enough to ….ack, finish me completely you weakling, what makes you think you can defeat our master?!" he said as he coughed out a blood splash midway. I was a bit surprised that he wasn't screaming in pain, but then again he probably only felt his torn up midsection now.

"I'd say you're finished in about a minute, use it to give you master a message! You can tell him that this will happen to him in just a few days. He can make all the clones he wants, it won't make a difference! If he doesn't leave this planet, he will regret it!" I said with anger.

"Heh, I don't need to tell him you idiot; he can hear everything you say through our mind link! And you merely got lucky today, next time you won't get off so easy!" Kakarot laughed despite choking on his own blood. I scowled for a moment at the insult, but decided to finish the job instead of waiting it out.

"He can hear everything I say through you, eh?" I asked with a darker look. Kakarot kept his grin and nodded.

"Then since I have nothing left to tell him, you've outlived your usefulness, now go back to him!" I shouted, shooting a strong blast at him from near point blank range. His smile faded in the bright green light as the remains were destroyed instantly. I panted slightly in anger, but I wasn't tired physically. Vegeta stood by, looking impressed as I turned back to him after powering down.

"You've still got a mean streak boy," he noted.

"Only to those who deserve nothing less," I growled slightly as I walked past him. I walked back towards my friends and kept a single thought in mind. The Overmind had learned of the effects and counter measures of my potent feedback attack. It had also learned that I had done much more than just practiced one attack on my journey to Auir. I had adjusted to my deeper power and ability, and soon it was going to come at him. Today I had sent the Overmind a message: its days were numbered.

**Power levels:**

**Verto and the others remain the same.**

**Goku (SS3): 580,000,000**

**Infested Bardock (Golden Ape Form): 790,000,000**

**Infested Kakarot (Golden Ape Form): 830,000,000; SS3: 600,000,000**


	60. Return

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 59: Return** – "**My Goodbyes" part 1**

I gave enough energy to the Son family to keep them alive and eventually get them up and walking around so the Protoss medics could get there, but not enough for a full healing job. I wasn't Dende after all, but I felt it was good enough until the Protoss got there. I figured at the very least they could go into recovery again since I was giving the Overmind a few more days to live. I didn't expect that the cursed creature would just up and leave, but I had to have made it panic by now. Everyone made it back to the Protoss capitol safely and those in need of medical attention got it right away. Vegeta declined this treatment however when the Son family went into recovery, he demanded only food and a bed. He didn't come out of his room for about twelve hours though, obviously feeling the effects of his battle. Normally this probably wouldn't have fazed him that much, but this long war had been dragging on everyone, especially him for some reason. His invisible worry and sorrow for his comrades was apparent even through his steel eyes. His gazes towards me lacked the tough intensity of the early days, and his wall staring had decreased as well. I could see through his eyes though, he was tired of this war. Tired of fighting the same enemy, tired of losing comrades, and tired of thinking about all of it. The battle hardened Saiyan who loved the thrill of a challenge was losing his mental edge, his always-ready attitude was slowly unraveling. I had seen it in Goku and Gohan's eyes several times, even more so in Bardock's. To see it in Vegeta's stone gaze though, it just tore me up to see that. The Overmind was wearing us down mentally even if we currently had the advantage, and they had been ever since they first appeared on Earth. I was sick of this war pretty much right after it started, but my determination to end it kept me going. I wasn't sure how long the others could keep going.

Gohan probably had less reason now then anyone else to go on fighting this battle, his war with the Zerg had just ground to a halt. With Aldaris now gone, he had no real reason to stay around other than taking care of the Zerg. What he really wanted was to go home to our family and friends, and wish Videl back to life. I understood that just fine, knowing that eventually it would come to pass one way or another. Goku wanted the same, mainly just a return to peace and normal life at home, all of this fighting had gotten to him once the killing really got going strong. He would also make sure that other victims were wished back to life by the Dragonballs. Bardock had probably lost the most out of all of us. Not just a crew of teammates, he had lost all of his known comrades and friends to the Zerg. He was battle hardened for revenge against the Overmind, but a survivor captain that has lost his crew certainly isn't the same afterwards. Likely that he would want his friends wished back and then would want to return to his previous known reality. A much simpler one now that Frieza was out of the way and the threat to planet Vegita was ended thanks to a wish to the Namekian Dragonballs. Knowing that his youngest son would grow into a great warrior, and that the rest of his kind were alive and well would do well to ease the troubles he would face there. He would deal with that in his own way when that time came. For a Saiyan captain, you can't plan ahead too far, your next mission might be your last if you're caught with your pants down.

_Hey precious Fasha, can you hear me now? From the lost and found although your six feet underground.  
In the mirror, I can see your face, just another trace of all the tragedy you passed down.  
There are times when I can hear your voice, it's just like my voice and it still haunts me when you come around.  
I feel like I wasted time when I didn't have you on my mind.  
I feel like I'm all alone, how could I have known you would leave me here alive.  
_

_Oh my God, how did I make this far?  
Why I can't I be where you are?  
My God I think I'm dying._

That brought me to my own unique perspective. I had cheated death so many times up till now. I had probably also played the odds against my deadliest enemies as of late, my new abilities had proven more than they could handle since they were drastically different from what one might expect out of a Saiyan. My body and spirit were willing to do what had to be done, and my mind was sharp enough to carry it out. My heart however, was in pieces, and it had been for a long time now. Ever since I had rid myself of my own evil dark side, I had been a little depressed. Even though he had taken form and drained a lot of that hateful batch of feelings from me, I knew it could build up and easily happen again if I allowed it. And I had let him out the first time, I'm the one who pulled the trigger. Death is hard to accept when it happens suddenly. I knew this, and so did everyone else. That doesn't make the pain of loss any better, sometimes it only worsens when you can't deal with it. I did my best to block it out of my mind, but it can and will always return until you can come to terms with it. In the past, when I was human, I lost several family members when I was at a young and vulnerable age. Sometimes it took a few days for it to work out of my system, sometimes several months went by before I was even able to get it out of my mind for more than an hour. When I came to my newer home, the pain of losing my old world was softened a bit by the love given to me, and the harsh training that was drilled into me. It helped me to ease those painful memories quite a bit. Losing a loved one didn't last as long anymore thanks to the magical Dragonballs. They could be back in a day or less, and whatever anger and sorrow that spilled out was gone quickly. Now there was a timeframe blocking that road to their return, and the slowly stretching rope that represented that length of time only got longer and longer. Deep emotional pain lasted longer and stronger with the bonds of love attached to them. The attachment was broken, but the connection was still present. Without the strings of that bond, neither end could survive a lifetime without contact with the other. One end of it was the lucky one, its life had ended without this pain. The other end was likely suffering much like I was now. I drifted off to sleep in tears once again, my heart had cracked apart long ago, now the chunks were breaking into pebbles. I knew what I wanted all along, I wanted the only thing that could glue those chunks of emotion back together. The only thing that could keep a smile on my face for more than a minute. The only thing and person that could bring back the bliss of happiness and erase this painful era of sorrow. I wanted to see Fasha and would do anything for that to happen.

Oh my God, how did I make it this far?  
Why can't I be where you are?  
My God I think I'm dying.  
Oh my God, why can't you take it away and give me one more day of just apologizing.

Red lit alarms brought out of my slumber as I heard Protoss troops in the halls. Instead of getting up to check it out myself, I reached for my scouter by my bedside and turned it on.

"Fenix, what's going on?" I asked with drowsy eyes and ears.

"_The Zerg have sent out a sizeable force. No detectable energy levels, so it should only be Zerg attacking us. Nevertheless they sent a generous amount of them and caught us in recovery stage. They may spread through the city and cause some damage, but we should get things back under control within the hour!_" Fenix said with a voice that clearly said he didn't need any sleep.

"Uh, okay," I managed to say, taking it off and falling back into my bed. I wasn't sure if I dosed off or not, but I woke up with the sounds of battle continuing outside. I left the scouter on so I could receive any more emergency broadcasts, but none came. My room was now dark again once the alarms were off, but I wasn't going to get to sleep with a fight going on, even if it was simply Protoss vs. Zerg in an all out melee. I yawned and stepped towards the dark door. It didn't open like I expected.

"Open!" I said with impatience. No response came, so I forced it open with my hands. A few door parts broke off with my lazy regard for its existence as I stepped out from my room. The halls were almost as dark as my room was, and that was surprising. They had been lit up with blue lights and golden trim the entire time I was here. I listened in on Protoss running around the temple, hearing talk of restoring the power and getting other troops awakened. The Son family was still asleep in their own recovery stages, the Protoss doctors said that they would probably be ready for action the following morning. Vegeta hadn't come out of his room from what I could tell, as it was right next to mine. I sensed him snoring loudly within it, not even acknowledging the sound of battle outside. _So even the always aware prince has to sleep sometimes_, I thought with a slight grin, _I could put that to use later if I get hungry late at night or something_. Speaking of which I was hungry now, but if the hall lights weren't even on, so I doubted that any sort of food was going to be available right now either. I walked down the blackened halls as more distant alarms kept blaring on and off. I stopped hearing Zealots and Dragoon legs clanging off the floors as I kept slowly walking, soon only a creepy silence was left with an occasional small red light on the top of the ceiling. It didn't provide much illumination for me, but my eyes were not much use if it was pitch black dark anyway. I sensed something approach and stopped to feel the air out. It had little to no energy to speak of, and as it neared, multiple hostile signals pinged off of my senses along with a scattered form of energy. I quickly deduced what it was just as I heard a series of low growls around me.

"You picked the wrong time of day to mess with this," I whispered, igniting my bright blue sword. A cluster of Zerglings had gotten in and surrounded me, a mistake they weren't going to forget easily. I spun and swung a few times, cutting them all down as they jumped at me, and leaving a nice pile for whoever decided to come across it later. I sensed something else behind me, towards the entrance to the temple. I spun to see a dark shadow in front of a distant light. My sword wasn't close enough to see what it was, and it didn't feel overly hostile either.

"Who's there?" I asked. No answer came except for a shallow breathing pattern that didn't match with any Zerg that I could think of. I stepped just a bit closer to try and seek it out. I considered trying my spiritual vision, but I felt that I would be too vulnerable to an attack if I did that without knowing what was in front of me.

"Look, I'm not in the best of moods right now, so don't mess around with me. Reveal yourself!" I ordered the shadow. It moved a bit closer, but not much, making me lose whatever patience had built up. I also moved a bit closer and added energy to my sword in warning. It brightened up the area of the shadow, revealing the face of my would-be opponent. A humanoid face sat there with a dim smile and bright but black eyes. Its hair was short and wild on top, and a golden pair of earrings dangled from its ears. Its body was definitely female, but was covered in a blue bodysuit that fit to her curves very well. Her eyes seemed to sparkle at me as a grin filled her lips. It was a beautiful woman to be sure, and one that sported a brown fuzzy tail. I gasped in shock as I recognized the figure, she was the single most thought of person in my mind, and the most important person to me currently. It was Fasha.

Any thought process I currently had now ground to a stop. Her face followed by very distinct memories of her destruction flowed through my mind as I stared at her in complete shock.

"Fa-Fa-Fasha?" I stuttered out, my whole body trembling. She nodded with a slightly brighter smile, stepping closer.

"But, you died?" I asked, losing the grip on my sword and allowing it to vanish. The darkness returned, but I could feel her presence directly ahead of me and coming closer. Soon she stood right in front of me by just a few inches while I slumped to the ground. I was not holding back any sort of tears by any means, and I barely saw her kneel down in front of me and put a warm hand to my shoulder.

"I was dead, but now I'm back! I see you're just as wound up as usual!" she chuckled slightly. I held back no longer and threw my arms around her neck.

"I missed you so much, I can't tell you how bad I've felt lately," I cried into her ears.

She returned the embrace, patting my back slightly, "I know, shorty, Saiyan bonds are toughest on the younger ones." My eyes opened and I glanced at the back of her head without moving backwards, it was the way she called me shorty, it didn't sound right. She let go of me and I sat down next to her in the darkness, both of us leaning against the wall. She seemed very quiet about everything right now, understandably.

"You do know that it wasn't me that killed you right?" I asked, choking back salt water.

"Yeah I know, it was your split personality, I know you would never do anything to hurt me!" she said with an eerie calmness.

"How did you come back to life anyway?" I asked with all seriousness. I felt a slight shift in her energy suddenly before she answered, but it didn't seem to mean much other than stress, as if I hadn't had enough of that lately.

"Oh that, our friends back on Earth used the Dragonballs from that Namek place, and I requested to come here to help you out. I saw how you were struggling from the afterlife and we decided it would be best if I came to help ease your pain. After all we can't have you fighting out there with any sort of distractions right?" she said, throwing an arm around my shoulder. In truth I was beyond happy to see her, but I made sure to ask questions that only she would know. The Overmind had toyed with my emotions before, and with all those clones running around I wanted to make sure I was next to the genuine Fasha. Her energy signal felt normal enough, save for a bit of fluctuation by emotion, nothing different there. It was pitch black dark, so I couldn't see all of her, but when I had my sword out she looked normal enough.

"I thought we weren't going to use the Dragonballs until all of this was over?" I said, looking down and wondering why.

"I am not sure myself, I wasn't aware of it until just a little while ago. Why are you asking me all these things, don't you trust me?" she asked in a lower tone.

"Of course Fasha, its just that I've been through hell lately, and the Overmind has done so much to hurt me inside and out. It's not you, I just don't want to be hurt like that again, I've had enough of it," I said sternly. My serious tone washed away when a pair of lips found my left cheek.

"Does that help?" she asked in a seductive tone.

"A little," I grinned slightly. The lights slowly flickered to life and I saw Fasha in her full view sitting next to me, holding my small hand within her own. I scanned all over her beautiful form, seeing no signs of anything that would lead me to believe that it wasn't her. Her tail swished around mine and intertwined with it, filling me with a warm shiver long forgotten. I felt my broken heart begin to mend itself, and the smile on my face stuck like glue.

_Hey precious Fasha, can you hold my hand like you did back then?  
Can you forgive me of all my sins?  
Come to me and take this pain away cause it's all I see.  
It is so heavenly to see you again.  
I feel like I've wasted time when I didn't have you on my mind.  
I've felt like I'm all alone, how could I have known you would leave my side?_

_Please tell me you're here to stay and will never leave me again!_

Vegeta's look of shock never failed to amuse me whenever I saw it. But his tirades of questions were more numerous and repeating than mine had been. I never left Fasha's side though, and she never left mine. We had just polished off a meal in-between questions, but it never really halted them for more than ten seconds.

"Why did the Kais suddenly decide that it was time to wish the others back?" Vegeta snapped at her again.

She looked down and away, trying not to look at his angry eyes, "I told you I don't know! They wouldn't tell me anything!" This went on the entire time since Vegeta had woken up, only an hour after Fasha first showed up.

"I find it very interesting that you should suddenly appear during a Zerg attack while were all sleeping, does the Overmind believe we are that foolish?" he barked at her. I frowned; he was taking it a bit too far now. I had done all kinds of scanning and sensing throughout her body, finding absolutely no trace of Zerg influence. The distress in her answers to Vegeta's constant questioning eventually turned my glares to him.

"Hey, take it easy, if she doesn't know, then she doesn't know!" I stepped up.

"Stand down boy, I am not as easily convinced that this is your mate!" he snarled at me now.

I sighed slightly, "Look I've been with her ever since she showed up, and I'm telling you there is no trace of Zerg influence. She is Fasha, plain and simple!"

"Perhaps, but considering the situation, I find it highly unlikely that even the Kais would suddenly wish everyone back when the battles are not over. It makes more sense to wait as _they_ instructed us to do so. Was Gohan's mate wished back as well? And what about the other Saiyans?" Vegeta asked with a direct eye at her face.

"Yeah, everyone who has died so far both in this dimension and ours has returned to life from what I know," she said in slight fear of his royal highness.

"Everyone you say? Then why didn't they come along with you, it would only be prudent to send reinforcements!" Vegeta declared, getting a jolt out of Fasha. _Then again, he does have a point, unless they are that confident in my abilities._

"Look I was the only one sent along, they said that it wouldn't matter anyway. My Verto is too strong for the Zerg now. They said he would easily take care of the Overmind with his abilities now!" she said, squeezing my hand a bit in anger. I saw what Vegeta was doing pretty quickly, and I hated him for it. He was trying to prove to me that this Fasha wasn't the real one, and I believed that she was. Nothing she said or did really disproved her identity, I was sure of that. There were some gaps in her information, but we knew nothing of the events in the other dimension right now, never mind Other World.

"Hey, that's enough," I said, standing up. Vegeta turned his wrath towards me but said nothing. "We have no idea what the Kais are up to right now, for all we know they saw what was happening and acted accordingly. I for one am glad that she came, I don't know what I'd do if I had to keep going on suffering like I have every night since I lost her. Her being here now gives me something to live for, you should at least be thankful for that!" I snarled at him. He eased up a bit with his death glaring, but never took his eyes off Fasha. He relaxed a little once he saw I was completely serious.

"You're still too trusting boy. Oh well, while she's here we might as well go through with it. As you both know, we planned to dissolve the bond, as it is a burden on both of you. Since this is the first time you two have been willingly together, we should do it immediately," he suggested. My heart sank slightly, but I understood, it was probably for my own good. Fasha's hand tightened just a bit, squeezing mine a little more than hard.

"Can we wait a little bit before we do something that drastic? After all we've been separated by death, we have some catching up to do," Fasha giggled slightly, tugging me towards the door. I stared back up at her, I never knew her to object to an order from Vegeta, even if it was indirectly.

He cast an interesting but amused looking glance at my confused face, "Very well, but we will be performing the ritual of Separation before the day is over," he ordered.

"All right," she said with a grin on her face as she ran down the halls, dragging me by the arm. I noted the serious glare he gave us on the way out, another way of him saying to be careful.

**A/N: I could easily guess what most of you are thinking right now. And for those who are incapable of figuring it out...never mind. I'll give you all a few days to think this one over. No sneak peek either.**


	61. The Insurgent

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 60: The Insurgent –My Goodbyes part 2**

Fasha ran excitedly down the temple halls to my room, shutting the broken door behind her once inside. She had a sly grin on her face that I hadn't seen out of her before. Well that wasn't true, it had been that way a few times when I had been a "full functioning" adult, but it seemed a bit deeper now. _Okay, really excited._ I sat on the bed carefully watching her swaying movements as she crept closer.

"What are you doing Fasha?" I asked, though having a good clue.

"Having some fun," she said as she started to peel down the bodysuit starting at her neckline. I backed off slightly, _Wow, she's playful today, I guess it has been a long time, but what is she planning to do for enjoyment, there's no way that will work._

"You'd be surprised at what one can do given the right amount of encouragement, I would like to see what your capable of despite your size and age," she said, clearly reading my thoughts as she removed her gloves.

"Probably nothing too much," I said, backing up a little more as she sat on the bed next to me and leaned my way.

"Oh your no fun," she said, putting her top all the way back on, though it hadn't been removed enough for much anyway. I relaxed a little more and scooted closer as she draped an arm around my shoulder and upper back. It still bothered me that my "mate" was a whole two and a half feet taller than me and was probably twenty years older now, so I felt a little intimidated by her. We had been the same height when I was a teenager, but even that was short. She playfully drifted down my back and got a hold of my tail.

"Well if we aren't going to be able to do much else, how about I give you a nice tail massage to go to sleep by, it has been a hectic day after all. I imagine you've had trouble sleeping lately, maybe this will help," she suggested.

"Yeah that sounds nice," I said, leaning against her slightly. Her warm body felt a little colder than it had when she first arrived, but the power had been out at the time, so the room had heated up a little more with it restored.

"Go ahead and lie down on your belly, I'll take good care of you, after all we can't have our little hero on a lack of rest can we?" she said, slowly pushing me down to my stomach. I complied, feeling a warm rush of air around myself, as my sensitive tail seemed to vibrate with her smooth caress.

"Little hero eh," I said as I lay my head on my arms and closed my eyes with a smile.

"Well that's what some may call you, your enemies probably won't refer to you that way," she said, her hand going up and down, rippling the fur a bit.

"Yeah I suppose they wouldn't," I agreed.

"They would probably call you what you are, a little pain in the ass!" she suddenly said in a vile tone. I started to turn to her sudden change in demeanor, but a great pain erupted from her hand and went through my spine. I cried out as my body quit responding to my commands to get up, I was paralyzed. _Son of a bitch! That hurts!_

"What the, your not Fasha?" I managed to ask.

She squeezed harshly again, "Not the one you know, but I am Fasha, the true one. I am not tainted by your pathetic emotions like the original was. Your pitiful little existence is an insult to the Saiyan race. My master has stood by long enough to watch your disruption of his will, and it ends here and now!" she said, digging her fingernails into my tail. This hurt so much I thought I was going to pass out from pain, but unlike any form of pleasure, this wasn't something that could be escaped. It literally felt like she was trying to tear my spine right out.

"Owww, your Master? You're another clone?" I asked, trying to at least grab the side of the bed, unsuccessfully. She let up just slightly, allowing me just a bit of finger movement.

"Correct you little worm, and I will succeed where my brothers have failed. Your pitiful feelings were going to get you killed eventually, and today is that day. Since no one can hear your cries for help and your power is safely at a normal level, I seriously doubt anyone can stop me before its too late! But before I do that, it's time to make you suffer before the end!" she said, sending another wave of pain down my tail. It felt like she had probably broken a bone or two in it now since I was unable to fight back or power up, she was definitely squeezing hard enough. I spotted my scouter on the edge of the bedside towards what the Protoss considered a pillow, my hands were only inches from it. She let up just enough for me to squirm a little and I dove for it despite her grip. Just as my fingers made contact with the lens, she pulled back hard. I yelped in pain and collapsed next to her as she stared down at me with a dark and unnerving glare.

"Vegeta, he was right about you, I should have listened. But I don't understand, I couldn't sense anything," I moaned slightly, unable to move once again.

"Yes, that fallen prince has a knack for detecting insurgents, it runs in his bloodline. But even he won't be able to save you until its too late!" she grinned wickedly and repeatedly drove a backhand into my gut with her free hand. It didn't hurt nearly as much as the tail, but it was enough to make me choke on some blood.

"You can't kill me though, the bond would hurt you as well!" I bluffed slightly.

"So you think, except since I am not the same Fasha. It has no effect on me at all," she said, hitting me some more in the stomach area. I was feeling faint now, Vegeta had told me once that if ones tail was squeezed too long and paralysis remained for a long enough time, that the victim may lose motor function for an extended amount of time, never mind consciousness.

"How are you going to kill me? I'm stronger than you and you know it! I can take anything you can dish out!" I said in defiance.

"Yes, when you can access your power, but now you're helpless thanks to your little weakness," she said, although she needn't give me a reminder. She held her other hand a few inches above my beaten stomach, charging an energy blast in her hands.

"This may hurt, little lover," she said with a grin. The golden blast made contact with my bruised stomach and tore apart a few layers of skin. I forgot about my tail pain completely, and even managed to twitch just a little bit while I shouted out in pain. My shouting got a little loud, and she glanced behind her before putting a clamp over my mouth. I tried to bite her hand, but was unable to get enough motion out of my head and neck.

"I can't have you making anyone nearby aware of the situation you know, I guess I'll just finish the job now. I did want some enjoyment out of you first, but you're far more trouble than you are worth!" she said. My face heated up really fast as a golden glow emerged from her hands. I shut my eyes in preparation for what I knew would be more than a little sting. I heard the blast fire, but the heat vanished and she tumbled across my paralyzed body, hitting sore spots. She growled at the door, and I sensed another presence there.

"So, I was right," Vegeta announced, smoke coming from his hands. I was barely able to turn my head in that direction, but pulled it off. Fasha never let go of my tail the entire time, she had to have known she would be screwed if that happened.

"How did you know what I was doing, our power levels were too low to detect anything!?" she demanded.

"You see that scouter over there wench, it has been on the entire time, transmitting," Vegeta pointed. I suddenly realized he was right, I had never turned it off from when I talked to Fenix. Fasha looked over at it from her position on top of me, snarling slightly at her misfortune.

"Release the boy, or face me!" Vegeta warned, charging a big energy blast in his hands. Fasha grinned and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me up against her to shield herself, keeping the squeeze on full to keep me compliant.

"Surely you wouldn't risk the boy's life?" she said, holding onto me as if I was her only hope of survival.

"If I must, I will," Vegeta said, ready to fire.

"And screw up your chance at destroying the Overmind, unlikely! Even you are not that foolish!" she dared.

"Let me ask you this, what makes you think hiding behind a disabled warrior is going to guarantee your safety. Kakarot and his son will be awake very soon, and that's assuming you would live that long. You let go of him and I'm sure you know what will happen. You are pinned down and have no way of escape!" Vegeta reasoned. I felt her breathing shift slightly as her chest filled with air and pushed against my back slightly.

"I have no fear of death, my mission is only his destruction, so it doesn't matter what you do to me fallen prince! I seriously doubt you will jeopardize this little one's life!" she said, pinching my cheek slightly.

"Let go of me," I snarled as I struggled a bit, her grip on my tail had slipped a little to allow this. I felt her power up and a golden hue came off of her a moment later. She had shot up to Super Saiyan two, and then clocked me in the back of the head.

"Silence you little worm," she said as her fist found its way into my sore stomach, and I saw blood fly out of my mouth as the skin of my abdominal area disappeared into red. Everything went black then.

**Interlude 60.1 –The Disguise Revealed-**

Fasha knocked out Verto easily when she powered up, and tossed him into the wall just as Vegeta dove at her. She kicked him through the wall and out into the halls with both feet. Vegeta was up just as quick, already at Super Saiyan and soon at level two. Both Saiyans beat on each other for several minutes before some of the Protoss got involved. They made the mistake of showing up and trying to break up the fight. Vegeta warned them to back off, Fasha didn't give them that courtesy before blasting them into dust. Vegeta himself was still a little tired from the previous battle, as he had elected not to use the Protoss technology to recover. He didn't just in case something like this happened while they were all asleep. The two warriors probably tore through more walls than they landed blows on each other, disturbing more and more Protoss in the process. Vegeta eventually got them to evacuate the area while he dealt with his attacker. Over the course of about twenty to thirty minutes, they moved around the temple, making new doorways and new rooms that the designers didn't have in mind. During that time Vegeta had landed a pretty good blow and had enough time to charge a big blast that would do some damage for sure.

"Final Flash!" he shouted, sending her out of the temple by way of the outer walls. He gasped for breathe for a moment, but not for long as he stood ready for another assault. His assumption was correct as she came back in, looking fine as if it hadn't affected her. Her clothes weren't even torn, and Vegeta knew he had to have done enough damage for at least that to happen.

"Don't look so surprised, all Zerg tissues can regenerate," she said as her bodysuit suddenly shifted into a brown color just as her regular skin turned green.

"A disguise as well, that would make sense, even I was unable to detect the Zerg in you!" Vegeta realized.

"Correct, I'd say it worked quite well, now I suggest you get out of my way. You are too worn down now to face me, and I have a mission to accomplish!" she said, walking straight at him. He dropped into a stance to prevent her advancement, but she phased out and clocked him in the back of the head with a back fist before kicking him into the ground.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, now you know for sure!" she said with confidence as she turned her back and flew down the hall. Vegeta got up an instant later and charged after her, arriving just as she reached Verto's room again. They both saw a blood trail leading away from the room on the floor, not to mention a distinct set of red handprints on the walls. Fasha's bloodlust rose a couple of notches, and once she saw the direction he was heading, she figured out where Verto must have gone.

"Going for the cavalry, I don't think so," she said as she stalked down the halls following the trail. Vegeta's presence seemed to have gone unnoticed by Fasha, until she send a quick ki beam back at him, sending him crashing into Verto's room.

"I told you to stay back, I suggest you comply," she said before advancing forward again.

Vegeta spat the blood in his mouth, "Argh, I will show you!" He flew out of the room and caught sight of her turning another corner along the blood trail. They both caught sight of Verto pounding on Gohan and Goku's room door, but not forcing it open and keeping one hand on his wounded belly that had been leaving the trail. Fasha grinned and fired a beam just as Vegeta started to move.

-

I woke up by choking on somewhat dry blood in my throat. My gut was bleeding out pretty badly thanks to that false Fasha's brutal hits. A lot of things were going through my mind at the moment about betrayal and even more emotional pain, but I had to block it out and get out of there before she came back. I forced myself to get up and used the wall for leverage to get out of the room. My tail was cut badly, but not as bad as my belly was. It was also rather limp and I didn't dare try to move it. I could feel there must have been a broken bone or two in there somewhere, and it was preventing me from walking normally, the hole in my stomach wasn't helping matters. I felt Vegeta and the fake Fasha duking it out around the temple, and I knew I had to move as fast as possible. I nearly crawled along the walls down towards Gohan's room, knowing that if I could wake him up, I could end this quickly. I left quite a trail of blood behind me, but that didn't matter as long as I made it. I felt Vegeta's power start to drop and hers start to rise as a Zerg signal filtered in. I was still a bit bewildered at the fact that I couldn't detect it before, but that didn't matter now either.

I reached Gohan's room and pounded on the door, "Wake up, Gohan!" No answer as I winced in pain as it came along with my heartbeat.

"Duh, they're basically in cryo-sleep," I muttered aloud. I pounded again, hoping the door would break open and at least get someone's attention. This didn't work so well because the Protoss doors were tougher than normal ones and I was already hurting in the strength department. I managed a decent sized dent right in the middle of the door before I heard sounds behind me. I spotted Fasha coming down the hallway, looking right at me with a potent ki beam leaving her hand. Her bodysuit had changed to brown and reeked of Zerg tissue, never mind her now green skin. I quickly started gathering energy, but there was no way I would have enough time to do much more than prevent a lethal blow. I didn't have to, as I was pulled downwards by Vegeta just as the blast went over my head.

"The prince returns once again, too bad its all meaningless, you'll both be dead very soon either way you slice it!" she laughed aloud.

"Come on, let's wake up Gohan and Goku," I said, pulling towards the door.

"We don't have that kind of time boy, she isn't going to give it to us. We can beat her, but I need your help!" Vegeta said standing up. I wasn't so sure I could be of any help, I was in bad shape to get into a fight, channeling energy right now could be dangerous. Then again the situation didn't leave me room for deliberation, and it wasn't often that Vegeta directly asked for help, if ever. I wasn't given time to think about it further, as she attacked us both before I could react. I was blown to the side by this sudden charge, but I saw Fasha nail Vegeta harshly and felt his power slip a bit. She hit him hard enough that the walls around us cracked from the energy used. His hair turned black almost immediately, and my anger took over.

"No, leave him alone!" I said, standing up and feeling a power surge from inside. My anger had started to fuel me, and I began to use it to my advantage. Fasha grinned and stepped on his chest, holding a ki blast that would surely blow his head off.

"I do what I please you little runt, sorry if this gets a little messy!" she said, ready to throw it. I shook slightly inside, this Fasha was so vile and cold that I couldn't stand it anymore. _No, I won't let you do this!_

"Aw, you're about to cry aren't you? Such a weakling doesn't deserve to be a Saiyan, never mind in the company of the prince," she laughed, lighting the dynamite that was my power.

"Argh, I said LEAVE HIM, ALONE!" I shouted, my power surging more now. I felt a majority of it arrive and run through my wounds, working together to soothe them just enough to power up. I combined the two energies and transformed instantly to Super Mystic, lighting up the hallways, and Fasha's evil eyes. Once transformed, my wounds no longer held any pain, and I was refocused into the emotional task at hand. I had to kill her and I knew it, there was no other solution. I knew that if I should I actually do it, I may not be able to control my actions afterwards, but it was the right thing to do now that she was threatening all of us. _Note to self, anger still works the best when it comes to pulling up power, as long as I maintain control._ She still held the ki blast over Vegeta, and I spread my energy outwards to prevent her from hitting him. She released it and watched it ping off the green energy shield I placed over his body with a portion of it.

"How in the hell did you do that?!" she shouted at me in anger. I didn't respond with words, only actions, igniting the rest of the energy field in a quick circle around her. She seemed to not notice what was going on, but she would very quickly. I sent all of this energy at her at once much like I would the Psi storm. This mixed energy version was going to do much more damage, but I didn't care. I growled sharply and continued, this creature wasn't going to get away without suffering. She screamed in pain as it shocked her down to the ground before I released it. Vegeta managed to crawl away from this without being hit by the green lightning, watching what was about to take place. I let up once her body had a few bloody holes in it, smoking from where the lightning struck through and leaving behind some melted Zerg cells.

"Get out of my sight," I warned.

"What?" she asked, getting up as I stomped towards her.

"I said leave, you sicken me. Your master sickens me, everything about this war sickens me! I am tired of these fucking games he has played with me, and I am especially disturbed at what you attempted to do. Get out of here and never return, otherwise you will pay the ultimate price for what you have done!" I threatened again.

"You can't be serious," she said in reply, laughing just a bit. Judging by the look of fear she had a moment later, she knew I meant what I said as I pierced her eyes with my own.

How could you take her from me?  
It's like you spit in my face.  
I've got her friends to save, with no option to stay.  
Don't let her end up like me cause she'll be down on her knees, asking you where could I be.  
I wonder what you would say?

Two doors opened up behind me, and several yawns filled the halls. I sensed the Son family awaken, not at the best time, but it was fine.

"What did we miss?" Gohan asked with a slight yawn.

"Fasha?" Bardock asked with a trembling voice.

"What is going on?" Goku asked himself. All of them got their answers when Fasha punched at my face. I didn't block the blow, but it barely forced my face sideways before I turned back and gave her the deadliest look anyone could give off. I powered up my fist and punched forward hard, and it went right through her body easily.

She gasped and choked on her own air, "B-But, H-How, How could you?" I pulled my arm out and stared at the blood covering it as she collapsed. She quickly choked on her fluids, and I saw the Zerg cells retreating from her outsides as her power level dropped. _What the hell is the Overmind doing?_

"Funny, maybe you're not so weak after all, little lover," she gasped as her breath died out. In an instant I knew what happened. The Overmind's failed attempt to kill me with a Fasha clone had driven it mad, and he killed her by taking away her Zerg regeneration when I struck the fatal blow. It could have killed her anyway, but the fact that the creature did that purposefully turned my insides in knots before I felt something crack and crumble. The entire world around me seemed to turn gray as I felt the last pieces of my heart break apart. I threw my head back and screamed loudly, releasing energy and shaking the grounds around. The floors started to shake apart just as the walls started to blow apart, and I all wanted to do to quell my pain was die right there. My friends started to shout to me to stop, but I barely heard them. I didn't want to hear them either, I just wanted this to end one way or another.

_You can't kill yourself, you mustn't, otherwise who will protect them if they can't protect themselves. _I heard that voice in the back of my mind, and I knew that I needed something to take this new anger out on before I did something drastic. My thoughts shifted to everyone I had known, all of them could be killed or captured by the cursed Overmind if I went through with it, and no one would know what happiness was anymore. I couldn't allow that to happen anymore than it already had. I knew now though that their happiness and my own may never coincide ever again. I wanted to be as happy and loving as they were, as well as receive it. But if I was going to preserve their lives, I was going to have to do away with what might get in the way of that. _They're counting on me, I can't let them down!_ I looked back and held my injured tail in my hands. It represented a lot to me, power, passion, pleasure and pain all wrapped into one. It hadn't been a huge factor in most of my battles before, in fact it was almost an advantage since it was not a weakness. Now it was, and it could be used to hurt my friends by preventing my own actions as proved to me already today. I decided that it was time to part with it.

"Verto, what are you doing?!" Gohan asked as I grabbed a hold of it and pulled, hard.

I feel like I wasted time when I didn't have you on my mind.  
I feel like I'm all alone.  
How could I have known you would betray my side?  
It all was so simple then, when it all began and I was your smile.  
And now you just words in stone, you're just dust and bones and I'll join you there in time.

**Power levels:**

**Infested Fasha (SS2): 480,000,000**

**Vegeta (SS2): 440,000,000 (falls as he tires out more)**

**Super Mystic Verto: 600,000,000**

**A/N: Who saw that coming 2 chapters ago? (Insert Massive Eye roll here) I was originally going to have Verto's tail come out by accident during a fight, but it didn't quite add to the "tragedy" feeling if I did it that way. Believe it or not I actually got choked up a little bit while writing this, drawn out tragic scenes are tough on me.**


	62. Final Battle Begins

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 61: Final Battle Begins**

I wasn't in recovery as long as I thought I would be, but the Super Mystic transformation had taken care of some of my injuries. I didn't pass out from the extreme pain I endured from pulling my own tail out, I had done it before. To my surprise, the pain didn't last all that long, as once that part of the nervous system was disconnected I wouldn't feel it anymore. That didn't stop my ass from hurting a great deal. Everyone who witnessed it was more distressed about it though, and I found that one of them stuck around at all times to make sure I didn't do anything more drastic. Mostly Vegeta, and as soon as I recovered, he told me that another trait of mating bond depression was tail removal.

"That could have been it, but the whole reason that the Overmind stooped that low was because of my tail. He brought back that paralysis that I've never had to deal with, I'd say the ends justify the means from now on," I said as I had finally woken up after a day and a half. I stumbled the first time out of bed without the tail, but it didn't take long to get used to things without it. There were also a lot of Protoss officers showing up to make apologetic remarks about this, saying they didn't know how she got past their scouts and defenses. I let this go since most of them had been in a fight with the Zerg at the time, any fast moving Saiyan could get by their eyes more than easily. Something strange had happened shortly after the tail was gone, and it was a bit surprising. My nightmares ceased their continuous hold on me during sleep. They were recurrent as usual, but it stopped disturbing me so bad that I could at least put up with them. Vegeta mentioned that Saiyan mating bonds are strongest through the tail, so removing it would drastically reduce its effects, which was nice at know. My drifting into depression cycles during the day almost completely ceased as we neared what would surely be the final day to be spent on Auir. I no longer thought about committing suicide on an hourly basis, and I was thinking more clearly over all, especially when directing my suggestions to Protoss commanders with assaulting the Zerg. It hadn't affected me as much during the fight with the Clones, but once I wasn't fighting something, I was down emotionally.

Speaking of fighting the Zerg, we had cut down the Zerg lands to eight percent of Auir occupied. With only one Brood left, the Overmind's forces were severely crippled now. Waves and waves of Zerg had been created as we slowly chipped away at them, but it made no difference. Whether we Saiyans took care of the job or had left them to the Protoss, they were cut down. Eventually Tassadar set up several base camps for the Protoss forces, completely surrounding the remainder of the Zerg lands and fortifying their position with the army of Auir. Once the Protoss ground forces caught sight of the Overmind's official position, we planned for the final fight while pulling them back just a bit. Vegeta, Gohan and I sat across from Tassadar, Fenix and Zeratul to plan for the assault.

"How shall we proceed, young one? Your strategies against the Overmind have been outstanding, and we would like you to direct the final assault!" Tassadar suggested. I sighed slightly, but quickly thought it over.

"I want the majority of your forces to drive at the last brood and destroy it before coming after the Overmind. I think it will pull most of the Zerg away from the creature itself, after all it's down to its last agent, save for any more clones. Zeratul's brethren will kill that last Cerebrate before we go after the Overmind itself. Hopefully this will go quickly and we can end it as fast as possible, but be prepared for a tough fight, I'm expecting one," I said, leaning against my hands as I twirled my thumbs in thought.

"Sounds like a good plan, but so far your plans have been based on tactical advantage and surprise by distraction. Why not attack while our forces are keeping that last Brood busy?" Fenix asked.

"That is the surprise, the Overmind would probably expect that strategy, and he can likely sense our power levels around the planet if we are powered up or close enough. We move in along with the Protoss to kill off that last Brood and he's completely boxed in. We'll hold for a short time to see if he doesn't do something stupid or foolish to waste his efforts. I prefer a worn down enemy before just charging in to tangle with him," I explained.

"Once again I dare say that the greatest Protoss Executors would not have a chance against this boy, I'll inform the ship commanders right away," Fenix said as he left promptly.

"What about the fight against the infernal creature itself, is there anything special you plan to do?" Tassadar asked me now.

"Other than just blast it to pieces, no. However that has been done before to no avail, even by your own devices. When Broly tried to wipe it out on earth, it didn't work because of the Overmind's massive amount of energy in spiritual form. The damn thing is more energy than matter from what I've seen, its presence is hard to deal with. Its actual body is more like a representation of its energy. Its large size reflects this as it holds a tremendous amount of power, and it would have to be so it could control all these minions. This also allows it to regenerate as fast as it does, I've seen it happen before. I suspect that destroying the core of the creature first will go a long way to get rid of it once and for all, but killing all of it at once would be hard to do without blowing up the planet. As I understand, ki energy and Psi should be used together to hurt it. That's what we did with the Cerebrates, so it is safe to assume that the Overmind can be hurt by the same attacks," I explained further with my knowledge of the creature.

"So what do you suggest?" he asked again.

"Between Gohan, Zeratul's brethren, and myself, we should be able to kill it off, but it may take some time. And we don't know where the core of that being is exactly. One would think the middle, but I'm pretty sure it has evolved enough over time to be able to move it around at will. My experience with this showed up during travel, I'm pretty sure the damn thing had to shed a majority of its body to fit inside what they called a Super Hive. It was really big, but it wasn't that much bigger than a regular hive. I've seen its eye before, and we should look for that. It will have a big energy signature with it and it's as big as Broly himself. But in what, miles of tissues, that won't be so easy to find," I pointed out.

"We should make the Overmind move it around to where we want it, we slowly take out its appendages and it will have to run to its center, then we have it locked down," Vegeta suggested as I nodded.

"Agreed, the attack begins at midday, may Adun be with us," Tassadar said, adjourning the meeting.

-

Gohan and I kept our power levels downas we waited aboard Tassadar's ship outside enemy lines where Raynor's Norad was also present along side. We had run out of Saiyan armor that Bulma had made, so the Protoss made a similar style for us to wear. There were no shoulder straps with these, but the shoulder-neckline area was protected much better with the improvements they had made. Vegeta thought they looked bad, but didn't really complain when Goku tested its toughness with a pretty hard punch and got little to nothing as a result. A generous amount of the fleet had been sent along with the Zeratul and the other Saiyans to engage the Zerg on the other side of the Overmind's position. We spent most of the time in meditation, though Gohan cut it short once we got word that most of the Zerg life forms on the planet were now heading to support the last Brood.

"So, are you ready to do this?" he asked carefully.

"I have been for awhile," I said without opening my eyes.

"It's just that the last few days have been, dramatic," he said, casting a worried expression at me.

"Yeah I know, dealing with it has been eating me up. But to know that today it will end one way or another, it lightens the pressure a bit, believe it or not," I explained.

"We've got two dimensions, or more, riding on this outcome. Two somewhat whole universes to fight for, and your not feeling any extra pressure?" Gohan asked, astonished.

"The pressure has lifted ever since we got here, the war was the hard part. This battle may be the final for one side, but the journey to get to this place is over. To know we shouldn't have to chase it down anymore, it relieves me a lot," I said with a smug look.

"Whatever man, just keep clear and focused and we should do just fine. Remember we might have to fight Broly again, and he's going to be tough. But with the two of us working together, we should be all right, just let me take most of the punishment," he said as he grinned back.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I said as a loud beeping came into my scouter. It was actually a transmission for Tassadar, but they had reworked things so I could hear them as well if it was vital information.

"Go ahead Praetor," Tassadar said as I listened in.

"The last Cerebrate has been killed and the Zerg nearby are starting to go rogue and are destroying each other, awaiting further orders!" Fenix announced.

"What's the position of remaining Zerg around the Overmind?" I asked.

"There's barely one thousand standing Zerg life forms according to our latest scans, the way is laid bare," Fenix reported.

"Set course for the Overmind, we'll meet you there," I said once and felt the ship move right away.

"Here we go," Gohan muttered.

-

"I am picking up a life form emitting a high amount of energy not far from the Overmind itself," an officer reported.

"Gotta be Broly," Gohan said.

"Hold position here, we're only a few miles away, otherwise you'll risk destruction of the ships and their crews. We'll go on ahead from here and face him now," I said, leaving the bridge right away. I hit a smaller button on the side of the scouter and watched the lens slip inside before clipping it onto the side of my Saiyan armor, a nice improvement to them by the Protoss. Gohan and I left the ship and flew ahead with all focus turned to our mission. As soon as we saw the outer tentacles of the Overmind, we both started to power up a bit. It wasn't long until a bright golden aura flew up from the grounds ahead, racing right towards us. It felt very big, more than my full power and a bit more than Gohan's as well.

"Hope you're ready," Gohan said softly.

"Well, if I'm not, we're gonna know pretty quick," I said as the golden figure arrived. There was no mistake, it was Broly. His Zerg cells covered most of his body except for his face and hair, and he looked to be powered all the way up in his ultra form. Just the sight of him stirred a fire in my blood.

"So, you two are finally ready to die?" he sneered as he stopped in mid air.

"You're the one going to hell today, and so is your master!" I warned, aligning my energies as I did. Broly charged us both quickly as soon as I said this, missing us narrowly as we dodged to either side. I had to flip around in the air so I didn't get hit on the blindside. As soon as I was clear I powered up to Super Mystic just as Gohan did himself. Broly stopped long enough to witness the two transformations, unsure about whom he was going to attack first. He chose to go for me by shooting a big ki blast my way. I activated my sword and deflected it into the sky, where it blew up when it hit an orbital platform. I phased out when the light blinded him for a moment, slashing across his large back. He spun quickly with another assault of ki blasts and I had to fly downwards to avoid them. He came down after me, but didn't see Gohan coming until the knee hit his face. The two engaged in a scuffle of punches while I moved back up to eye level, ready for another go. Broly deflected Gohan's attacks pretty well and threw a small ki beam to knock him out of the way. Just as he did, I swept by and sliced both of his legs open with my sword, spilling blood into the air. He growled in pain loudly as he held them by instinct, not seeing Gohan once again. He was knocked into the grounds and kicked up a lot of dust in the process, blasting back into the air a few moments later. He was already mad at our antics, and he was only going to get more frustrated soon with what I had in mind. He went after Gohan this time, who barely evaded his attacks. His wounds closed up quickly, but slower than I expected, meaning that it wasn't a complete transfusion of the body like Borgos had been. I wasn't surprised though, my infestation had been the same way, and I even suspected that perhaps that the other way was the only way to maintain a completely dead agent and not a clone, also as Borgos had been. I stood by and watched for him to get sloppy, which only took a few minutes because of Gohan's constant dodging. When he did, I separated and reabsorbed the ki from my sword and left it as normal Psi, reforming it into a white blast and thinking about family and friends as I did so. Once Broly had his back turned and Gohan saw what I was doing, he engaged in another round of fisticuffs, to which Broly gladly obliged.

"Feedback!" I shouted as I fired at his wounded back. I struck pay dirt and watched as he tumbled to the ground in pain as his massive body lit up with white energy.

"_Gohan, time for the finishing blow, you hit him from one side and I'll do the other!_" I said telepathy. We lined up with Broly in the middle on the ground, charging the big green blasts from hell.

"Super Galic Gun!" I uttered, firing straight at Gohan's Kamehameha. Broly had gotten a hold of himself at this point and was beginning to eject the feedback effect from his body as I expected may happen, but much too occupied to notice the two huge green beams coming straight at him. They smashed into him and exploded off of each other when we discontinued the attack, easily blinding everyone who saw it, including ourselves. What was left was a battered and beaten Broly at the bottom of a good-sized crater, not moving.

I rescanned his energy level, seeing it had taken a drop, but I noticed another energy field coming near. I searched around but saw nothing until I felt Broly feed off of it and get back up slowly.

"_You feel that?"_ Gohan asked telepathically.

"_Yeah, I think it came from the Overmind, looks like we're gonna have to totally wipe him out!_" I replied, hovering off the ground and around Broly. Broly stretched a bit before powering up again, not looking overly happy. I landed next to Gohan and stood parallel to him, mostly waiting to see what Broly would do. He growled a lot before rising into the air and charging a small but extremely powerful ki ball, certainly meant for us.

"You know what to do," Gohan said without looking at me.

"Yeah, let's up the power just a bit. Ka...me...ha...me...HA!" we chanted together as Broly shot it out way. Our mixed energy beam collided with his ki ball and held it in the sky as it expanded a whole bunch. Broly fired a large string of similar bombs our way, pushing the collision ball more towards us slowly.

"He's in position, are you ready?!" Gohan shouted over the roar of the energy colliding.

"Yeah, let's do it! HAAAA!!!!" I shouted back, putting a plan we had made earlier to work. Basically Gohan figured that we would have to blast him a lot and that combining our power into one beam would be the best way as long as he kept still. We both powered up more and re-energized our massive beam, sending Broly's energy back into his face within a few seconds. Another explosion and we saw Broly plummet to the ground, his body and energy in shambles once again. The energy field I had detected made itself present once again, but this time it took longer to do its magic.

"Man, how does he live through it," Gohan said as we stood back and waited patiently.

"He's a tougher version, but I don't think the Overmind can get any more power out of him other than restoring what he had. Be glad we can gang up on him," I said, pulling my scouter out.

"I vaporized him before with just as much power as we just used," Gohan declared, confused.

"Big ugly loves to screw with genes and cells, this version is probably harder to break then any sort of metal the Kais could dig up," I said, hitting the button to transmit.

"Tassadar, what's your position and where is Vegeta and the others?" I asked into it.

"_My ship is located about two miles to your north now. I've met up with Prince Vegeta and the other two Saiyans, they are standing by_," he reported.

"Tell them to hit the Overmind right now," I ordered.

"_Do what_?" I heard Vegeta ask.

"Hit the damned thing with ki blasts! Its feeding Broly a lot of energy even when we beat him down. I suspect that if you guys hit it now, it won't be able to keep it up. Start at the outskirts and work your way in!" I repeated.

"_Understood_," he said just as Broly started to stir. I flew into the air and spotted two long tentacles of the Overmind nearby. I got near one of the ends and shot a mixed beam into it and allowed it to follow the trail back a good ways. It shredded the tissues easily, and had a direct effect on the energy field in the air around Broly. _Looks like my theory about the core of the beast may be correct, he had to back off a little bit._ I shot another one at the other piece of the creature that I spotted. Just as that section vanished in a ball of fire, I sensed Vegeta, Goku and Bardock all power up around the area, seeing their golden auras in the sky. The energy field dropped in intensity once again, but it was still present. Broly was slowly getting up again, but he was definitely winded despite the recharge of energy he was getting.

_Hmmm, he's tired either way, feedback time!_ I thought, charging another potent Psi ball. Broly didn't see this one coming either, but screamed a lot when it hit, his rage and anger added to its affect. I glanced to the west and saw multiple ki blasts and beams raining down on the Overmind's large form, shredding it in many places. Broly managed to stand up and break out of my hold once again by powering up over about two minutes.

_Man, how does he do it with so much evil blood in his veins?_ Then I remembered one of Zeratul's lessons, pure evil has the ability to power out of it given enough effort and energy. Broly was a hell of a lot stronger than me currently, and insane, so that fit the bill pretty well. Broly didn't attack us, instead he raced towards the others who were beating on the Overmind. Gohan and I chased after him not a moment later.

**Power levels:**

**Verto (SM): 600,000,000**

**Gohan (SM): 700,000,000**

**Infested Broly (Ultra SS): 730,000,000**


	63. A Hero's Sacrifice

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 62: Hero's Sacrifice**

As Gohan and I flew after Broly, I kept telling the others to hammer the Overmind.

"We'll handle Broly, just keep the pressure on the damned Overmind! Hit it with everything you've got if you have to!" I shouted into the scouter. The overgrown Super Saiyan had gained some ground from us and rapidly closed in on Goku first. Gohan flew closer to me and stopped, yanking me out of flight with his arm.

"What are you doing?" I yelled at him, but stopped when I saw his fingers raised to his forehead. "Go," I said once I realized what he wanted to do. Instantly we appeared in front of Goku where Gohan got a free hit on Broly's face. I got a good look at the Overmind's squirming form just then. Its large body was in shambles and was trying to pull itself together, but the massive amount of energy around it remained the same. _Makes sense I guess, after all the damn thing is more energy than matter, or maybe it's an even amount. _

I noticed Gohan take off after Broly again, while Goku stood by. I glanced quickly at the shell of the Overmind, spotting a small flash of energy spiking in one spot. I fired a string of mixed energy blasts around that area, seeing it jump around in its broken shell to miss them.

"That's the core! Aim for any sort of energy spikes that you see or sense!" I said aloud. Goku and Bardock didn't waste any time searching for it and firing accordingly, but missing every time. Whatever they hit tore apart easily, but the energy signal kept jumping around while the other parts slowly tried to pull themselves together again.

"Man, no wonder people have trouble killing this thing," I muttered as I took a few more shots at it. Just as I thought I had it isolated, the sounds of fast movement went on behind me and I saw Goku fall out of the sky. I right away sensed Broly right behind me, and spun quickly only to see a fist coming at my face that was way too fast to block. Pain erupted in my jaw, but not anything I hadn't felt before. I stared back at Broly, who looked amazed himself that my head didn't come off.

"How did your head stay on your neck?" he snarled as he pulled back a bit. _Must be my training, all of that energy surging through me must have pumped me up a little bit._ Broly didn't wait for any answer and came at me again. I ducked under his punch, jump kicked him in the chin, and spin kicked his chest to knock him away. He gathered a quick but potent ki blast in his hands from not thirty feet away, firing a moment later. I quickly gathered an energy shield to block against it and saw the blast blow up right in front of me. Broly's tight grin vanished once the smoke cleared, seeing that I was undamaged as none of the energy got through. Gohan phased in just behind him, a bit bruised but ready to engage him again.

_We've blasted the crap out of him, I've hit him with the feedback twice and he got out of it. I doubt the Stasis Ice is going to do much other than piss him off, what's left without just dropping a bomb on his head?_ I asked myself as I scrolled through the obvious options. Broly looked to be out for blood, and with a constant energy supply feeding him we were going to have to take the Overmind out first. Going for absolute full power on an energy blast was too dangerous to try and we weren't desperate yet. With him attacking all of us to prevent damage to his master, it was going to be difficult to finish off the beast any time soon. _It's almost a perfect strategy now that I think about it. I've got to keep Broly down, but how?_ I thought patiently while Broly was making up his mind on who to go for next. Gohan came at him from behind and another melee broke out while they beat on each other.

I could sense Gohan was stalling for me to act while Broly had his back turned, so I kept going through my options as quickly as possible with the current state of things. _Okay, his regeneration and energy supply are the problem that I need to take care of. I need to keep a steady amount of damage on him without letting him up nor burning out myself, the energy won't be a problem if he's too beat up to use it, what should I use,_ I pondered with a finger to my chin. I glanced over at Vegeta, who was staring back at me from a distance. He gestured with his hands by pulling them together and spreading them out in a straight line and stabbing against the air slightly. _Slice him up with the sword, what good would that do? Wait a sec, duh, he's not like Borgos, and therefore he won't regenerate as fast. With all that energy the Overmind is giving him though, he won't stay down, I better keep him down! Oh boy, that could get messy, but if that's what it takes then I may not have a choice!_ I quickly gathered my green energy sword into my right hand, sighing heavily. I charged at Gohan and Broly, seeing Gohan move just enough for me to move out of Broly's sight range as he countered. Broly took a big double hand swing at Gohan and missed, his back was clearly open as his hands pushed forward with his own momentum. I kicked him in the back with both feet, moving fast enough to carry his momentum along with mine and allowing me to literally stand on him.

"Foolish move boy, I'll squash you and you know it!" Broly laughed without looking back at me.

"That's what you think!" I shouted at him, turning my sword downwards and thrusting at the space between my boots. The sword pierced right through and Broly's laugh ended abruptly as he drifted to the ground. I wasn't sure where I got him at, but it was vital enough for him to stop moving and gasp for breath. He landed hard and I used the sword to remain steady as I balanced myself on his back. His energy dropped as fast as his body did, and I kept my sword as it was, impaled in his back.

I quickly looked up at everyone who was watching. "What are you waiting for? Get him!" I shouted and pointed with the other hand at the Overmind's regenerating shell. Several spots of dirt began to loosen in the purple creep and emerged as Zerglings and Hydralisks around me, obviously on orders to liberate Broly.

"Oh...no you don't!" I growled, spreading my energy outward. The Zerg hissed and whined as my energy passed through them, their bodies literally falling apart at the seams before they exploded. I noticed the creep also dispersed into normal brown dirt when my energy hit it, though no plant life was present. Broly started to stir, so I made sure my sword had plenty of energy running up and down through him. He barely made another twitch, and I could hear shallow breath, as only one lung appeared to be working. I sensed a large series of energy blasts being sent and delivered to the Overmind, and knelt down to keep the sword pressure in. I didn't think he'd be getting up, but I didn't want to take a chance either. I heard a large chunk of dirt and rock get thrown into the air as another Zerg spawn showed up from about fifty feet away, this time a huge elephant like Ultralisk. Its tusks were bearing down on me as it stampeded my way, the ground trembling all the way. I stood up a bit, and charged a quick blast just for it. It stopped when the blast came calling, heaving itself into the air to just avoid the small ball of energy. It resumed its course upon landing, not seeing my concentration towards it. The ball swung around at my command and nailed it from behind, ripping through its back and exploding in a shower of body parts. The remains collapsed instantly, and I kept my focus on keeping Broly where he was, which didn't seem to be a problem. I stared up at the countless amount of energy blasts being used on the Overmind from the other Saiyans, Gohan included. The energy signal from the beast never ceased from its current level, but a lot of its body was being decapitated into the air, even freshly regenerated parts. Protoss ships hovered in, and smaller interceptors started to fly around, shooting Psionic laser beams at the Overmind's body in tune with the other energy blasts. The only thing that changed was the amount of debris flying around from the impacts. _Damnit, this thing just won't die, but then again, Gohan isn't putting a lot of effort into it._

I paused as I reached for the scouter, "_Gohan, what is left up there?_" I asked telepathically.

"_Only a small portion about the size of my house, for some reason we just can't make a dent, every other part of it has been wiped out!_" he answered. Gohan stopped blasting once I contacted everyone through the scouter.

"Everyone get away from the Overmind! Gohan, hit it with maximum power! Remember, you have to use mixed energy for it to work at all," I suggested. The Protoss ships backed off instantly, the other Saiyans only a little. I saw Gohan's bright silver aura go up along with a feral yell as he gathered all available energy. He shot his huge Kamehameha out a few seconds later, and the green beam zipped into the mountainous area and exploded into a huge and bright green ball of power. It took about ten seconds to finally blow up and vanish. I didn't sense anything right away thanks to that kind of output still in the air.

"Gohan, can you confirm the target has been destroyed!" I shouted into the scouter. He paused for a moment, and then I heard a deep sigh as he was forced to power down.

"_No, it's still there_," he said slowly. I allowed my face to fall slightly while Broly chuckled slightly underneath me.

"_From what I can tell, the outer shell of that core was cracked, but the source of that energy is still inside of it. I'm out of power_," Gohan explained over the scouter. Broly's laughter rose in volume just a little bit, until I turned my sword just so slightly to stop it.

"And what is so funny?" I asked with a deathly tone.

"Your very best still won't do any good, the Overmind cannot be destroyed!" Broly grumbled out.

"Who says we have used our very best yet?" I asked, turning the sword to the left just a bit and lifting, hovering around the monster's heart.

"Because you are too weak to do it yourself!" he laughed again.

"Don't bet on that, you have barely tasted what I can do! Keep laughing and I'll show you," I said in a low, threatening voice. He laughed some more and I growled a bit, driving the sword into where his heart had to have been. All movement and breathing stopped instantly, as did any sort of energy being emitted. His body convulsed a few times, but the brain efforts to jump start him were of no use, he was dead.

The roar of a Protoss carrier went over my head as the COM chatter ceased over the scouter as Tassadar began to speak; "_My friends, I feel that the Overmind has suffered great damage, but we have also suffered a great deal of effort trying to destroy it. Therefore I will drive the Ganthithor into the heart of the beast. If I can channel enough of the Dark Templar energy, I should be able to put an end to the abomination here and now. Clear out everyone, and remember what was done here today!_" His transmission clicked off just as a large number of escape pods came out of his ship.

"No, Tassadar, don't do it! We can still do this without needless sacrifice!" I shouted at him through the scouter. He had certainly shut off the communications, because I saw a deep blue and green glow around the front of the ship. I sensed the energy being channeled by the Templar, knowing that he was indeed planning to kill himself in exchange for killing the Overmind. It wasn't the power that he was emitting that surprised me though, it was the raw focus of it and its purity. As energy sources could flow either pure or slightly scattered just a bit, it really determined how good the user was and how they were emotionally at least. I knew Tassadar to be a good-hearted being, but I had no clue he could channel his energy like this. _His training with Zeratul must have done this, and that was for the most part meditation from what I've heard._ His now mixed energy flowed more purely than Gohan's, and easily as pure as mine when it spread great warmth around the area. I flew up just as the ship was attacked by some remaining Zerg flyers that were hiding in the clouds. I moved to intercept them, but the ship was already catching on fire from the inside. The front of it exploded first, training all the way to the back as the bright blue and green glow erupted from the bridge. It shot like a meteor towards the core of the Overmind as the ship went down in flames. The strike produced a huge explosion that forced me to cover my eyes as a lot of dirt shot into the skies and a small shockwave went over the lands. Protoss ground troops were blown down by it, but otherwise unharmed. I maneuvered through the dust storm to float next to Gohan and Goku, who watched it all from about a half mile away. It took a good deal of time for it to clear out, but all that remained of the Overmind was a crater the size of an asteroid.

"He did it," Gohan breathed out.

"Yeah," Goku said with a sad nod. I looked away from it, feeling that Tassadar didn't need to do that to win. I knew that he did it for his people as well as ours, but the whole concept just didn't settle with me too well. There was no returning either, he had made sure of that. I had brought up wishing the dead Protoss back to life with the Dragonballs as well, but he wanted no part of it for anyone, including himself. Not only that, it felt like he had blown his spirit completely up in that attack, I wasn't sure there could be a body for him in their afterlife if it worked the same way as ours. _Then again Vegeta blew himself up as well and he was fine, but this is different energy were dealing with here. _I choked back a tear when I glanced down at the unmoving form of Broly. His face lie in the dirt with no emotion, just open, pupil-less eyes like he was in shock. That sight also made me sick to my stomach, and I wanted to turn away from it. I then sensed a spark that felt like a heartbeat coming from him. I stared down to see his hand was gripping something long and thin. I followed it back into the depths of the mountains, where it vanished into the rubble. His body started to move.

"No way," I said aloud. Gohan and Goku quickly found what I was talking about. Broly was getting up slowly, but the appendage he was holding was once part of the Overmind. I sensed a great amount of energy come alive and the small tentacle lit up with energy. It flowed into Broly and his form started to grow just a little bit while he himself screamed and choked just a bit. The stab wound in his chest and back filled in with new flesh, and his skin turned black in color all over, including the Zerg attachments. His hair grew a little longer and lit up into a dark green color. His eyes shifted from teal green to none, and then to glowing red as an evil smile grew. The energy from the Overmind's appendage faded into Broly and his power level shot up dramatically as the wind did, pushing against us with great force.

"What the hell is happening?" Vegeta shouted from behind us. A blue mist sprayed from the tentacle and slowly surrounded and enveloped him, and I instantly knew.

"Fenix, get your troops out of here!" I shouted into the scouter.

"What is going on boy?" Vegeta asked, struggling a bit as the wind pushed against him.

"It's Broly, the Overmind just fused with him!"

"It fused with him?" Goku asked, not so sure.

"Yeah, it did," I said as I stared at the crackling aura around the new form. Its power had now turned into a mixed energy signal rather than just the powerful ki level that Broly already possessed. It was also much stronger than Broly had been, and I knew that we were in trouble. The Broly we knew was pretty much gone, Zerg-Broly was born.

**Power levels remain the same, Zerg-Broly: TBD**

**A/n: I'm sure some of you thought that it seemed a bit too easy, well there ya go. I got a few questions from others about keeping consistent with the Starcraft storyline about this part. For those who don't know it, Tassadar does kill himself to take out the Overmind in the original story, and it does work. Obviously I couldn't have this saga go out on a note like that though. Please do post your thoughts.**


	64. Unstoppable

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 63: Unstoppable**

_This is the year where hope fails you  
The test subjects run the experiments  
And the bastards you know, is the hero you hate  
But cohesion is possible if we try  
There's no reason, there's no lesson  
No time like the present, telling you right now  
What have you got to lose, what have you got to lose  
Nothing! Except your soul... just listen!_

"How is this kind of power possible?" Vegeta asked aloud as all of us were gasping at the power Zerg-Broly was giving off. It didn't matter whether I called him the Overmind or Broly now, they were one in the same. Unlike my fusion, this one was done with agreeing parties, somewhat anyway. Also unlike my fusion, his energy skyrocketed from his previous level, far beyond what I thought anyone was capable of alone. He was currently admiring himself head to toe, laughing like a maniac now that he had inherited Broly's psychotic personality. He held one hand up and shot out several energy blasts that soared into the distance and blew up in far away areas. I instantly felt several thousand Protoss suddenly die in cold blood. I growled slightly as he continued his sick pleasure.

"So...how are we going to deal with this one?" Bardock asked during the laugh-a-thon Broly was going through.

"Doesn't matter how, as long as we finish him off for good," I said as I slipped into a mid air stance. Zerg-Broly stopped laughing and finally turned to us with his deathly grin. He was gone in a flash and I heard four distinct yells of pain behind me. I spun to see the others tumbling to the ground just as a loud whoosh went by my ears, revealing itself to be the powerful Broly right behind me.

"How in the hell did you…?" I asked as I turned. I never got an answer, only a gut-wrenching fist right below my rib cage. I held it in surprise and shock, no one had ever hit me that hard before, and the pain was almost not even there because the nerves were probably smashed. A large hand wrapped around my neck and throat and Broly held me up to his face while I struggled to get out.

"To think I was threatened by you," he sneered.

I managed to get my much smaller hand under his just enough to breathe, "You still are!" I said in defiance. He cranked up and threw me out of control to the ground at incredible speed. I hit ground before I knew he had let go of me. _Oh man, I've never faced anyone this strong before._ Technically everyone I had faced to date was stronger than the last, but not like this. I sensed the other Saiyans recovering, Gohan was up first. Broly floated towards me slowly, but kept his eyes moving around for any other movement. I powered up my aura and activated my mixed energy sword, its green light seemed to null my pain for the moment. I charged up and swung at Broly's head. He ducked as I slashed over, then dodged to the side as I swung a little wildly at various parts of him. I never saw the smile leave his face_. How in the hell?_ _He's just playing with me! Well, play with this!_ I stabbed forward while faking to the right, penetrating the black skin of his chest and right through his sternum like I had before. He glanced down like a bug had landed on him, and I felt his energy surge up. Next thing I knew was that I was flying away from him very fast as he moved his hands forward, his energy had welled up and pushed me away. I looked back in horror as the wound I inflicted never even fazed him, even as the blood trickled out.

"Even you can't stand up to that attack, that had to have hurt you!" I declared.

Zerg-Broly nodded slightly with his sick grin, "Yes...Yes it did. However, you may have hurt the puppet, but not the puppet master!" _Great, whatever we throw at him he may not even feel._ Gohan seemed determined to make him feel pain though, he was charging another maximum Kamehameha just for Broly. It was ki only, but at top Mystic power it would do some damage for sure if it hit. Broly didn't wait for him to fire and threw his own blast at him. Gohan phased out the instant it arrived, reappearing behind Broly. _Nice._

"HAAA!!!" he shouted, letting the beast have it right in the back of the head and upper body. The black skinned Saiyan vanished in the blue light, only to reappear not a moment later. His smile remained, as he never turned around, his back smoking just a little bit. The shocked look on Gohan's face didn't stay there as he soon joined the rest of us on the ground.

"Dear boy, you really shouldn't be that surprised, for nothing you do can hurt me!" Broly cackled into the air as his aura appeared once again.

_I fight for the unconventional  
My right, and it's unconditional  
I can only, be as real as I can  
Because advantages  
I never knew the plan  
This isn't the way to just be a martyr  
I can't, walk alone any longer  
I fight, for the ones who can't fight  
And if I lose, at least I tried_

The planet shook violently as I was able to truly gauge his power level and compare it to my own. The last time I felt anything this big was the Buu battles when everything on Earth got crazy with Super Buu absorbing everyone in sight and Goku and Vegeta's fusion with the kai earrings, and then going Super Saiyan three. I very well realized that I was not capable of that kind of power alone, nor was Gohan. I glanced over at Goku and Vegeta, who were standing ready at Super Saiyan two, but not moving.

I punched the button on the side of my scouter and whispered into it while the Overmind was laughing, "Fusion!" Goku and Vegeta right away looked my way and I nodded, getting a quick scowl out of Vegeta in the process. He didn't argue though, and they proceeded to line up and regulate their power levels to even. Broly stopped laughing and observed this with a bright grin on his face. _Yeah that's right, keep standing there like an idiot and let them do it, its not like you know what it is!_ I thought with a slight grin. His smile only grew as he watched Goku and Vegeta line up perfectly, and I felt his energy surge. He was gone in a flash, reappearing between them as they were stepping towards each other.

"You didn't think I would let you do this, did you?" he asked with the same smile on his face. _Once again I spoke too soon,_ I thought while groaning a bit. Both Saiyans attacked Broly, and both punches were caught easily. The kicks landed, but had no visible effect. Broly held onto their arms tightly and threw them both into the air and out of control. An instant later they were tumbling to the ground from a double knife hand chop from the evil Saiyan.

Gohan slumped down a bit next to me, "Hope you've got a plan, I'm out of power and ideas," he said in a depressing tone.

"It may look hopeless, but we've been led here today to vanquish the Overmind and we're going to do it, no matter what," I said calmly, watching Broly float around and laugh some more. It took more than a few seconds for Goku and Vegeta to recover, both ready to give another go. A feral yell erupted from them at the same time as they shot into Super Saiyan three, their hair growing out to the waist. Just as they were ready to fly after Broly, they stopped and lined up quickly. Zerg-Broly was between them again in barely a second, only to get hit with large ki blasts as he landed. Their trap only worked for a few seconds, the blasts didn't do hardly any damage.

"Bardock, we've got to help in the attack, get ready!" I shouted out to the older Saiyan. He nodded as he pushed his power to his maximum in Super level two form. I already had my power ready for action, it was only a matter of using it. Goku and Vegeta stood together in the air and fired multiple ki blasts at a charging Broly. They only forced him back for a moment, giving them all the time they needed for a big one. They lined up together and charged their next attack between them.

"Final Kamehameha!!!" They both shouted, firing a huge gold beam at the charging monster. It hit instantly and gave off quite an explosion. Once the golden light was gone though, I saw a dark shadow emerge, nearly unscathed from their attack as he continued flying towards Goku and Vegeta. _Argh, no effect, why am I not surprised. Goku and Vegeta are probably too tired to remotely keep up now._ That was confirmed once I saw that their hair and power level had changed back to Super Saiyan two.

I motioned with one hand to Bardock, "Go!" He soared into the air just a moment before I did, heading straight for Broly. Broly's blackened head didn't turn to acknowledge us coming and he proceeded with the attack against the other two Saiyans. He split between the two Saiyans as they dodged aside, Bardock arriving just a split second later in between them. I phased out and sped across the lands as fast as I could, staying underneath Broly but out of sight. He turned around and let loose a furious load of energy blasts that struck all three Saiyans multiple times quickly as they fell backward. He kept the assault up as I rushed up from behind with my sword in hand. Just as my sword would have sliced his head, he was suddenly facing me and the sword was halted in mid air. An energy shield emerged around him, barely an inch away from his large head.

"Nice try boy, but you'll have to do better!" he grinned wickedly. I slashed and stabbed at him multiple times from several angles, watching my green sword just stop against his barrier and split apart a bit until I pulled back. I growled a bit and backed off, reforming my sword into a ball and overloading it with energy from both hands.

"Block this one," I dared.

He crossed his arms, no apparent intention of moving at all, "Do your worst boy!" He dared as I sensed his shield dissipate.

"Super Galic Gun!" I shouted as my eyes flared a bit. My beam roared out of my hands as I sent it forward, the bright intensity of it blinded me easily. It exploded just a moment later, a direct hit on my target. I kept the energy flowing for just a second as the main force dissipated. The light and smoke cleared, showing a dark figure behind them.

"Oh shit," I mumbled my dismay aloud. Zerg-Broly's evil face emerged first, but he didn't seem too happy. His body then revealed itself as a paler surface like it had been, with trickles of red blood here and there. His power level hadn't gone down, but the Zerg cells had been blown off. However this wasn't a moral victory I could easily celebrate, as he threw his head back and concentrated for a moment, a grunt or groan escaping him. Black cells oozed back onto his skin surface, covering him quickly as his aura reappeared. He breathed a quick sigh of relief as he checked himself over.

"Nice try, you little brat, but simply removing the outer coatings will not be sufficient!" he growled a bit.

"Tell me something I don't know then!" I muttered as I prepared to give him another attack. I quickly separated a large portion of Psi energy from my body and surrounded him with some of it, layering the air with it and holding it into place. The air grew cold and a shield of Ice formed quickly. Before seeing if it even held him for very long, I gathered the rest into a positive Psi ball and fired it a moment later. The feedback ball went through the ice and struck him as he powered up to break free. His energy level then started to rise and fall with quick intervals, and I knew I had to do whatever possible to down him while I could. I spread my arms wide as I spread out my energy again and covered the air with it in a wide bubble of mixed energy now, moving it around him at a high rate. Just as the ice started to crack, I sent it all at him at once, bringing my hands together and creating a large display of green lightning much like the Psi storm. The ice shattered as my energy arrived, and a loud and pain filled scream echoed off of the sky as it struck him. I didn't dare let up when I heard this, and poured it on as it slowly took Zerg cells off of his skin once again. I sped up the attack along with its intensity and threw just about all of my power into the energy field and out through the storm. With hundreds of strikes per second, the black Zerg cells melted right off as he jerked around in pain. I kept up the effort, but quickly drained my power supply, as he didn't stop his struggle. He showed faint signs of wavering, but they were limited to that. I almost lost control of my position and dropped down about a few feet and my energy storm lost its greatest intensity. His arms cinched down and I sensed his energy flow outward. Soon my lightning attack only struck his energy shield and he stood up easier. I stopped the attack once this happened, pulling the remainder of the energy back to me. _He's just too strong_, I thought as he scowled at this. I glanced down for a moment to see if Goku or Vegeta had any ideas. Goku was floating a long ways away now holding a position above the others, and had his arms held straight into the air in his normal form. Vegeta was barking into the scouter and I felt a lot of energy rise from the planet and rush our way from afar. _The Spirit Bomb? Might as well give it a try, I've gone through the majority of my arsenal. Guess I'm the meat shield, again,_ I grinned slightly as I focused my energy ahead of me to ward off the coming assault.

_We, we are the new diabolic  
We, we are the bitter bucolic  
If I have to give my life you can have it  
We, we are the pulse of the Saiyans!_

"I can't ever say I've seen a grin on the face of one who is about to die," Zerg-Broly mused slightly as he hovered closer. His black skin had returned once my attack was over, and I was backed down a bit to at least give him a fight and stall him a bit. He didn't seem too concerned about what Goku was doing, but odds are he would figure it out soon enough.

"It certainly wouldn't be the first time. If I die, you're going with me," I said in a stern voice, waiting for him to make a move. He started laughing again, no real surprise there.

"Hahaha, and how are you going to take me with you? You've used your best attacks and you are low on power, much too low to even consider getting near me. Do tell!" he dared. _That's right moron, keep blabbing, I'd wager Goku only needs a few more minutes._

"I'll manage, there's still a trick or two I haven't used yet. Besides I want to savor beating your head in before I wipe you out with my final move!" I bluffed slightly. I still had a few things I could try, but I didn't want to if I didn't have to. _Sure would help if I could just keep him from regenerating or something like I did before. Then again a multiple attack combo kept him back for a moment, guess I'll just change up the order some more._

"And your final move is?" he chuckled as he asked. I sighed, what I considered doing next was going to take a lot of my remaining energy, but it would buy the time I needed, and I was too low now to beat him anyway.

"Okay, big guy, here it comes!" I said with a serious glare. He hunched up slightly, with his back to the growing spirit bomb, so he didn't even see it getting bigger. I gathered nearly all of my remaining power and focused it in my hands. I separated a small portion of Psi and fired the same amount of ki out the other side to balance it a bit as I sensed that I might be a bit out of sync as it was. He caught the small ki bolt just as I finished another feedback ball. I tossed it at him at a slow rate, pulling up more power once it was gone.

"Again? Don't you get tired of these redundant moves?" he asked as he powered up to repel the white ball.

"Super Galic Gun!" I shouted in response. His eyes lit up a bit, the feedback ball hadn't reached him yet. My beam roared past it and struck him dead on. I cut it off within a few seconds, and the green light flowed off as he powered out of it. He was missing quite a bit of the black Zerg skin, but not all of it. My feedback ball hit a bare area and seemed to have a better effect as it erupted into a white light and began to shock him all over his body. _The black skin must be apart of his barrier, this is a huge chance to strike him down! _He grunted and struggled with this while I gathered my energy sword and charged him. His aura reappeared, but he was still very distracted trying to eject the feedback effect, and I had the perfect opening. I shouted out a battle cry and poured energy into the green sword, flying at him quickly. I swung it high and slashed downwards right through the top of his head. I cut through easily and kept going all the way through him. Once my sword was clear, I backed off slightly and reformed it into a ball once again, firing the new blast at the remains. Both halves of Zerg-Broly exploded in bright green light, though it wasn't as large as an explosion as it could have been.

_That has to be it! Even if he can regenerate, that had to have weakened him, Goku can finish him off for good if he regenerates! _I gasped for breath as I noticed the spirit bomb was getting pretty big, no doubt Vegeta's barking had been towards all of the Protoss around the planet. I got a really good feel for the Spirit bomb now, it felt like mixed energy. _No surprise I guess, its power from everyone's life and spirit. Wish I would have known that before hand though, might need to learn it someday._ I watched the smoke clear and found Broly's two halves were still floating there, dripping blood from a few spots. _Man, what the hell do I have to do to this guy?_ The two halves then floated together and I saw the organs and tissues mold back together. His power level shot back up and his body healed itself in record time. The look on his face wasn't pleasant looking, and judging by the way his energy was starting to fluctuate, I was about to get knocked around. _Oh crap, Goku you better hurry up!_ I didn't have another thought enter my head before every part of me exploded with red pain.

**Interlude 63.1 –Waiting for the End-**

"Fenix, send out a message to all of your people, tell them to offer Kakarot a portion of their energy by lifting their hands to the sky. This will give our plan success!" Vegeta ordered into his scouter. He and Bardock were standing guard while Verto threw the kitchen sink at Zerg-Broly. Gohan stood below and watched the battle going on, knowing that if he tried to jump in he would only get killed. He wanted to help his friend so badly, but all of his power was used up trying to destroy the beast. He hadn't expected anything like this fusion to happen, nor did anyone else. He kept his faith in his father's Spirit bomb, it seemed to be the last option. As the energy slowly poured in from around the planet, Gohan felt the different sense of the bomb just as Verto had. He also noticed a potential problem, it was mixed energy. That meant that the high Psi energy of the Protoss was useless because it combined with their very low ki. The high ki from the Saiyans would help, except they had just been beaten around easily and didn't have a lot of it left to give. Gohan frowned, knowing now that this may have caused quite a delay in power and almost a disaster against Kid Buu. He wondered why the power of the Z fighters combined wasn't enough before, and now he had the answer. It could easily happen again now if his father didn't pull up enough power to beat Broly, who was now far stronger than Kid Buu was. Gohan was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't see a mirage in the air next to him. He was startled quite a bit when Zeratul appeared there, about taking the old master's head off.

"What vexes you my friend?" Zeratul asked.

"Just the battle, I need to be up there right now, but I'm out of power and I don't have enough time to rest and recover," Gohan said as he watched Verto's assault take a new turn. Green and white light exploded in the skies, and then what looked to be Broly was revealed sliced in half before regenerating.

"Why can't he just go away?!" Gohan growled slightly. Zeratul remained silent to Gohan's temper, but knew the young Saiyan wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"Good and Evil must balance sometimes, when there is an overwhelming amount of Good, Evil will eventually strengthen enough to balance it back out. Same goes for the opposite situation, I suspect you understand my meaning?" Zeratul asked.

"You mean that freak is going to win?" Gohan asked with a raised voice.

"Perhaps, but I suspect our young friend is going to do anything in his power to overtake him. I sense he is still unsure of himself, the loss of loved ones leaves large holes in his heart and mind. Once these obstacles are cleared, he will succeed where others would fail," Zeratul preached.

"I don't mean to rain on the parade here, but that might take longer than we've got," Gohan added.

"Of course, that takes time and training, and we are out of both right now. Getting back to the good and evil topic, the Overmind is trying to preserve its place in the existence of Evil. When you and your friends came for it today, Good was stronger than Evil. Its fusion with Broly flipped the equation around to where Evil is stronger once again. When its end comes, it may never exist anywhere again, and another Evil must take its place, a stronger Evil. Its only perceived threat right now is Verto, and therefore it is fighting for its future and doing whatever it can to sustain itself. There are strong forces at work here, much stronger than anyone here, and they have chosen those two to decide things. The Overmind may win the battle here, but what it doesn't know is that winning here may guarantee its destruction in the future!" Zeratul summed up.

Gohan looked at him strange, "You sound a lot like the Kais with that kind of speech!"

"Are they gods that you worship?" Zeratul asked.

"More or less," Gohan said, turning back to the battle.

"I am honored," Zeratul said with an amused look.

A war had broken out above, and Verto had definitely got the worst end of it. He looked like a piece of raw hamburger even as he tried to fight back. Zerg-Broly's attacks just came too quick and too hard, especially when he started knocking him back and forth across the skies.

"Man, he needs our help," Gohan said as he felt Verto's energy start to slip a bit.

"He does need assistance, but not from you. Just as you said, you are no help in this battle now, but I see that help may be on the way!" Zeratul said, pointing out the extra large blue ball that Goku was gathering.

"Argh, come on Dad," Gohan said under his breath, torn between attacking recklessly and staying put logically.

"Do not worry Gohan, I am sure you will be of some help in this battle yet again, but you must know when you have to intervene in order to be successful!" Zeratul said as his voice faded into the air. Gohan turned to look for him, but he was gone. A loud wail of pain got his attention to the battle above, and he barely controlled his temper.

_We, we are the new diabolic  
We, we are the bitter bucolic  
If I have to give my life you can have it  
We, we are the pulse of the Saiyans!_

Vegeta managed a content look as he saw the Spirit Bomb grow ever so slightly. He felt lucky that the Protoss were more understanding that the humans ever would be, and that had caused his plan to work faster. He was concerned though, Verto had taken a beating ever since his last attack, one that Vegeta thought successful. With every other Saiyan low on power or just too weak to take on the monster, Verto was the only one left to fight him, and was losing. Zerg-Broly was just too powerful, and the Spirit bomb appeared to be the only option left.

"Kakarot, is that damned thing ready yet?" Vegeta shouted at his rival. Goku was struggling to hold onto the bomb, he had donated a lot of ki energy to it to make it stronger, which had an interesting affect on the whole thing once the energy from the Protoss arrived. It strengthened a bit more for reasons he didn't understand, but he didn't care right now either. A loud cry of pain got his attention as a small figure plunged into the ground and left a decent sized hole. The ground around this figure exploded a moment later and it looked like he was ready for another round. But then his aura dropped as he gasped for breath, and his hair reverted to black as he fell to the ground, out cold.

"Argh, he's going to die for that!" Vegeta declared, charging through the air. He hit Super Saiyan two on the way up and released a huge ki wave at the monster Broly. As impressive as it looked, it paled in comparison with the sight of a barely singed Saiyan underneath it. Broly phased out and pounded the Saiyan prince into the ground with one blow, not far from Verto's unmoving form. Broly then turned his attention to Goku's Spirit bomb, laughing just a bit as he floated closer. Bardock jumped into the air to block Broly's path, only to get swatted away as soon as he was there. Goku didn't look too alarmed however, and awaited Broly's form as he closed in from several hundred yards out.

"Broly, Overmind, whatever you are now. You cause pain to others and harm to the innocent, your evil ends now! Here's a gift from them to you!" he shouted, throwing his hands forward. Below, Gohan watched patiently and hopeful, _this is it!_

**Power levels:**

**Super Mystic Verto: 600,000,000**

**Mystic Gohan: 580,000,000**

**Vegeta (SS2): 470,000,000; (SS3): 570,000,000**

**Goku (SS2): 480,000,000; (SS3): 580,000,000**

**Bardock (SS2): 440,000,000**

**Zerg-Broly: 820,000,000**

**Next Time on DBV: The Spirit Bomb has been launched as the last hope against the Overmind. With everyone so weakened, can they actually win with Goku's final attack? I'm not gonna give anything away, but this battle takes a shocking turn before its all said and done. Check in next time for the final chapter of DBV Series 5: End Game.**


	65. End Game

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the right to Starcraft or any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Chapter 64: End Game**

_I wont, be the inconsequential  
I wont, be the wasted potential  
I can make it as severe as I can  
Until you realize  
I'll never take a chance  
It isn't just one side aversion  
We've dealt with the maniac's diversion  
And I won't let the truth be perverted  
I won't leave another victim deserted!_

Goku launched the bomb right at the evil monster, watching it sail through the skies right at him. The grin on Zerg-Broly's face never truly faltered, but it did drop just a bit as he gauged the energy ball headed towards him. He moved back ever so slightly and prepared to re-direct the bomb with his hands. He swung with both fists and knocked it below himself just a bit as he flew upwards, sending it tumbling towards the ground. Goku's eyes narrowed as he saw where it was heading, straight at a fallen comrade named Vegeta. Goku concentrated for a moment and tried to use his instant transmission to beat his own weapon there, but didn't move on command.

"Damnit, I'm out of power! Gohan, get Vegeta!" Goku shouted. Gohan was ready for the task and vanished, reappearing next to his father with the fallen prince.

"Dad, what about the Spirit Bomb?" Gohan asked as the ball was tumbling to the ground.

"I'm too depleted to even move it an inch son, I'm sorry," Goku said, dropping to his knees as their best chance fell to the ground. His head bounced back up with a look of pure horror, "Oh no!"

"What's wrong dad?" Gohan asked.

"Get Verto, Gohan! The bomb is right on top of him!" Goku screamed out. Gohan focused as hard as he could to the area right underneath the powerful spirit bomb.

His eyes went down in defeat, "I can't sense him dad, but I'm going to try anyway!" Gohan vanished and appeared above the dropping ball, which seemed to be picking up speed. He dove down the side and reached the crater next to his fallen friend, holding his arms out to catch. He felt the immense heat from the ball start to burn his hands, but cleared his mind so he could focus without being harmed. Once the bomb stopped above him, he reared back and pushed with all his might. The ball responded by flying back towards Broly, who was looking on. Gohan gasped for breath as he felt success, and reached down to give his young friend a hand. Verto hadn't moved or even shown signs of life for quite some time, but Gohan knew he was in there somewhere. His mangled body said otherwise, in only a short time Broly had probably broken everything that could be broken. His arms and legs were twisted in bad looking angles, and his head was cut open in a lot of places, bleeding a lot.

"You little fools, you really think your little Spirit bomb can harm me?" Gohan heard a shout from above. A green energy blast sent the bomb back at him at a higher rate of speed and he barely blocked against it in time. Goku looked on in horror as the ball turned bright green from Broly's added energy and momentum. Gohan dug into the ground as the bomb pushed against his body, and he shouted in pain trying to move it back. His body exploded from pain and fatigue, and his energy faded quickly as he yelped and groaned loudly. Just as he thought he was for sure going to die this time, he heard a gasp beside him.

This was followed by a whooshing sound of energy in the air with a voice behind it, "I don't think so!"

**Interlude 64.1: Reawakening**

"_Wake up Verto, Wake up!_" a voice said. My eyes opened without any blood running into them to my surprise. I also noticed the area I was in was different. It was a black void that I had long since tried to forget.

"Who is it? And why am I here?" I shouted back, though I had a pretty good clue.

"_Just your friendly neighborhood Cerebrate dropping by to see how you are faring. Sorry I had to contact you like this, but it's the only place I can commune with you successfully while your unconscious!_" a familiar voice said. I looked around for him but saw no one, so the voice was being transmitted right to my head, though I heard it aloud.

"I'm busy trying to win a battle and I don't have time for this, talk later!" I said, turning around to find any sort of exit.

"_Can't let you leave right now, for you aren't trying your very best!_" he said.

I growled, "Bullshit! I've thrown everything at this guy and he barely budges. And whatever does affect him doesn't last when he regenerates himself!"

"_Calm down Verto, your techniques are powerful, but when they don't work anymore you'll have to find new ways to use them and new ways to defeat your opponent! Even if that means making the hard decision!_" he said in a much calmer voice than what I was sporting.

I snarled again, "And how am I supposed to do that, the guy took everything I threw at him, even a few combinations that he wasn't able to block against!"

"_I said calm down, you're not fighting smart. You're fighting your opponent's battle and not your own. You should never fight an opponent's battle when you have no chance to win it!_" Cerebrate said.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked in barely a calmer tone.

"_I see that he was bashing you around pretty badly. What I mean is that you've been throwing everything at your enemy when he wants you to do just that! Every technique that you have used was expected and countered effectively by either his purely evil power or his genetic makeup. Your feedback technique won't work on anyone who is purely evil and overly powerful like both Broly and the Overmind. They can eventually break out of it as you have seen. Your energy attacks have no affect because he can regenerate quickly. And any brute force is useless because of his large size and strength. Are you getting it now?_" he asked.

I took a deep breath, "Yeah...I suppose your right, but how else am I going to fight an enemy like this. I mean the only thing I haven't done is tried to blow myself up and take him with me! And I'd say I still don't have enough power to do that anyway!"

I heard a slight chuckle, "_Then you can't say you've tried everything!_" he said. I managed to snort at this and shake my head slightly, gaining another chuckle.

"_That's better, a rational mind is the one who wins in the end!_" he replied.

"Okay I understand, he expects me to throw all these new moves at him, but how am I going to fight him any other way. I mean, it's suicide to sit there and let him come and get me! And right now I'm way too low on power to try it!" I said.

"_That is true, however there are ways to avoid attacks even from an overpowering source. And as you know, there are ways to acquire energy rather than healing over time, you yourself have done it before!_" he said, jarring memories and knowledge from my head. I stood there for a moment, recalling many points during the battle that I should have either waited to act or used a different movement or technique to handle a situation. Several points in which I was running a little low in power and could have used my sword to get it back as long as he wasn't all over me.

"Okay, I understand, I'm ready now!" I said, closing my eyes.

"_Just a moment, I did want to make one final point to you. You know that if you lose today and the Overmind wins, that most everything in these two dimensions will be destroyed?_" he asked.

"Yes I know that," I said, getting over old news.

"_Be that as it may, your broken emotions and heart have been in disarray, and rather you know it or not, it has had a negative effect on your ability in the outside world. Remember this, your victory is the only chance for anyone you know to be reunited with you. This is the only chance for life as you know it to continue on whatever path it has chosen. You know what path likely awaits you, if you fail. Now can you safely say that you are prepared to risk everything to prevent that, even your own life?_" he asked again.

I thought about that for only a moment before nodding, "Yes I am prepared!"

"_Then I bid you farewell, good luck!_" A bright white flash lit up before my eyes.

_Do you understand (yes)  
Do you understand (yes)  
Say it again say it again (we won't die)  
Say it again say it again (we won't die)  
_

The white flash turned into a green one as the ground around me was shaking badly. I managed to sit up, groaning painfully, but I never even heard myself do it. A loud roar coming from that green light had replaced any sound around me. I examined myself quickly, seeing that there was basically no chance my mangled body could take another hit. Both knees were bleeding, both calves were broken, both arms aching and most of my uniform was red above my chest and stomach areas. My face bones were crushed in many places and bloody cuts had opened on my forehead and all across my face. I hurt so much that I felt like Hot Ice. It was a strange sensation to say the least. I felt the heat of my blood flowing and leaking around, yet my skin and body felt like ice, kind of like walking through a blizzard too long. I struggled to reach my feet, knowing that I could only be running on adrenaline right now. I glanced up to see the source of the bright green light. It was a huge energy ball that was trying to come down onto me and whatever was nearby. I saw it was barely stalled, by a pair of struggling muscled arms that were slowly failing. I turned to see Gohan trying to hold it back, and was doomed to suffer the same fate as I would. I trudged over to right behind him and glared upwards to sense Zerg-Broly laughing as he added more energy to the attack. I also noted that I felt a majority of Goku's spirit bomb energy within this ball, so I quickly deduced what was happening. It didn't feel pure anymore though, and thus I felt Zerg-Broly's evil energy within it.

"Prepare for the end boy, the time has come!" he shouted down. I gathered what little energy I had and formed my Psi sword in front of me, the snap and hissing sound of it being so close startled Gohan a bit.

"I don't think so!" I said, stabbing forward into the bomb. It pierced easily and I turned the sword just slightly in my hands, feeling a new door of energy opening before me. I pulled on the energy and it entered the sword and oozed through it towards my injured arms. I groaned as it flowed over my fresh injuries, but relaxed as it slowly soothed them and numbed my body. The bomb started to drain and it shrank away as I pulled the power into myself, adding it to my own pool of energy.

"What are you doing?" Gohan asked in shock, as he was able to let go of the bomb when it lifted off of him.

"Just giving that monster a bit of his own medicine," I said as I pulled the final bit of energy through my sword. It hadn't been as much as I had hoped, but it did recharge my power completely. That being the case, my body was in no shape for another round with Broly, I was going to have to finish it quickly and I didn't think I should risk even flying to do it. I shook just a bit as the new energy flowed through, a bit more than I bargained for, but filling up my power supply.

"Let me help you then. You're in bad shape. I can't see how you're even standing!" he pleaded. I glared at Broly's surprised form and barely shook my head.

"No, I want you to get away from me right now Gohan. I'm going to do what it takes to take him down and you'll only get hurt if you stay around me too long!" I warned, releasing the energy I had just absorbed to begin the power up. My bleeding wounds clotted up as my power rushed by, a temporary relief as the energy erased whatever pain I currently had. I was also so focused on Zerg-Broly that I didn't even notice pain, like it was on another planet bugging someone else.

"But you can't even move!" Gohan stated.

"I said...**GO**!" I shouted out just as my transformation hit. I accidentally blew Gohan back a bit, but he got the message.

"Please, just let me do this, then maybe we can all go home," I pleaded as I powered up, wincing a bit at random pain spurts from all over.

He sighed and nodded, "All right then, give that creep hell!"

_We fight, for the ones who can't fight us  
We live, and no one can stop us  
We pulse, with a push too far  
And the advantages  
Are but a malice  
We never, had to fight in the first place  
We only, had to spit back at their face  
We wont, walk alone any longer  
What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger!!!_

"So you managed to power back up with all of that energy. I must say I'm impressed, however it still won't do you any good. Your body is barely able to keep that kind of power output going for any sort of time, so this will be a short fight before you drop again!" Zerg-Broly said as he floated down towards me. I didn't wait for him to get much closer before dropping back and charging all of my newly absorbed power.

"Come on then, I'm not afraid of you!" I challenged. He looked at me like I had lost it, and maybe I had, but I was confident that I was going to take him down this time.

"Alright then, boy, since you're literally begging at death's door, I shall deliver you!" he said, firing a big blast straight at me.

"Super Galic Gun!" I shouted, shifting my arms up and firing the beam, sending the ball back at him. Just as a majority of the energy left my body, I felt my legs trying to crumble below me. Pain erupted as my upper arm muscles spasmed when I released the energy. Soon I didn't even feel them when my intestines tied themselves into many knots below. I groaned but kept my power flowing, if my body wasn't going to co-operate, then too bad. The beam had overtaken Broly's energy ball and shot it back at him, but I never felt him move out of the way. I felt his power shoot up and release a tremendous amount of power in retaliation. I scowled as my beam came back at my face slowly but surely. I pushed and pulled for whatever I had left, but my body had either released it all, or was unable to channel it. I dug into the ground with my feet slightly, gaining whatever leverage I could to no avail. His bigger attack was still coming, and my beam was barely affecting it now. I heard more laughing, and it fueled my anger to it.

"You're on your last strings of life boy, can you feel it flashing before your eyes?" Broly laughed above me. I indeed began to see images as I concentrated and struggled with the beam. It showed random people I knew suffering. Videl was dancing with Gohan on a ballroom floor, and it blew up, leaving her dress stained with blood and Gohan's tux in shambles. My adoptive mother Bulma was cooking with a blue haired baby in her arms, and her kitchen blew up and engulfed them both in flames. Only skeletons were left behind before everything fell to ash. Piccolo was meditating until an energy beam engulfed him from behind. A few other random earthlings met their end before I finally saw Vegeta and Goku were fighting a losing battle against a blackened figure. His red eyes gave me the answer to the nightmares I had a long time ago. It was him, Zerg-Broly was in fact that evil being, and if I failed, that destiny would be coming true. I saw that I was on death's door as well, my body felt like it was floating upwards. _Shit, I'm dead no matter what happens, but he will not hurt my friends and family. Screw it, I'm going for it all!_ I thought as I growled in anger. I cringed as I refocused whatever was left of my energy into a synchronization I had been afraid of using. I was fearful of it because of it potential to destroy everything around me. Now it was my only hope in saving all that I had dear. I opened my eyes and saw his energy ball hovering just a few feet away from my outstretched arms.

"I hope you're ready boy, you die now!" Broly called out.

"I don't care if I die, as long as I take you with me! SUPER...KAIO...**KEN**!!!!" I heard my voice accompany the rush of energy just as I felt it arrive. A dark blue aura surrounded me as I grabbed onto its power. I felt it leaving as soon as it arrived, and I pulled it into myself, channeling it into my beam. My green beam sparkled as I felt all feeling in my feet vanish. As soon as my enhanced power left my hands, I fell backwards and watched the results.

_We, we are the new diabolic  
We, we are the bitter bucolic  
If I have to give my life you can have it  
We, we are the pulse of the Saiyans!_

I smiled just slightly as the ball of power I had produced rocketed towards Zerg-Broly. He powered up more to try to send it back, but it didn't seem to matter. It hit him with the force of a billion major hurricanes combined, and I watched as it slowly ripped him apart and he disintegrated completely. I heard shouts and curses fade into the air, and his energy signal.

"It's...it's...over!" I managed to say. I wasn't sure how much time passed after that, but eventually five familiar faces appeared above me.

"I can't believe that you pulled that off! That was amazing!" Gohan said with a bright smile. I tried to answer with a joke, but no sound came from my throat except expelled air.

"We need to get him medical attention right away. Commander, send a med team right now!" Fenix said into an armband communicator.

"They better hurry!" Bardock said with a serious look as he gazed at me. Vegeta wasn't saying anything, but the look in his eyes said it for him. I didn't have the time they needed to save me, and I could care less now.

"Guys. He isn't going to make it," Goku said for his rival.

"No...no way...I don't believe that. You're going to be all right Verto, just hang on!" Gohan said, holding my pain filled hand. I managed to squeeze it back at him just a bit, and I felt a smile creep onto my face.

"It's...it's okay," I stuttered, finally getting my windpipes to work correctly. I barely turned my head away and spat out some blood before turning back. _God damnit, I'm going to live long enough to say a few last words. I owe them that at least._

"I knew I was going to die when I woke up just a little bit ago. I would rather die knowing my friends are safe rather than throwing a fit in the afterlife about dieing in vain. Just wish me back when you get to Namek. I promised I would do whatever it takes to beat him and I guess...I guess I'm paying for it now. I'll see you guys...later," I said as I felt my head lose the rest of its heat. I soon felt cold all over, and the last image I saw was one of Vegeta, smiling as everything faded to black.

**Interlude 64.2: Aftermath**

"No, Verto...NO!!!" Gohan shouted at the lifeless child. Goku looked at the ground in tune with his father. Fenix hurried his medical troopers to their position, knowing that he had run out of time. Vegeta smiled in pride, but it didn't last.

"Do not grieve for him too much, the boy would not want that. He died for the future, it is our job to make sure that future comes. We will see him again soon!" Vegeta spoke softly but sternly. Fenix's medical troopers ran in with a stretcher and began to attach devices to the fallen Saiyan. However they didn't get very far when his body began to fade.

"Praetor?" they all asked at once.

"Incredible, he is passing into the Kalah!" another said.

"Like Prince Vegeta said, we should celebrate this death, he has attained great honor in this day!" Fenix roared, getting many nearby troops riled up. Vegeta growled a bit at this, but didn't expect the Protoss to know what that had meant.

"I'll bet King Kai is going to train him, maybe he'll get to meet the Grand Kai also!" Goku said in an excited voice.

"Perhaps he will see the real Fasha in the afterlife, that well certainly help the healing process and maybe we can finally go back to our time and place. It's been a long time since I've had a good rest in my own bed!" Bardock nodded. Vegeta only looked up, and almost as if it was a sign, dark clouds uncovered a bright yellow sun that was setting in the horizon. Gohan allowed himself to smile a bit as well, despite the death of his friend. While he had sacrificed himself to destroy their most dangerous enemy to date, he had placed them all on a path for continued life at the cost of his own. _Goodbye my friend. I shall miss you,_ Gohan thought as he turned from the setting sun and walked over the side of the crater along with his comrades. Scene fade out.

**Power levels:**

**Super Mystic Verto: 600,000,000; Super Kaioken: 900,000,000**

**Zerg-Broly: 820,000,000**

**A/N: Well, that's it, that's the end of the story…PYSCHE! Verto's journey in life has only just begun, catch the new adventures of Verto in DBV Series 6: Afterlife and Recovery. No preview for it this time though, as it will begin right where Series 5 ended. I have a lot of creative surprises in store for you all, and I don't want to spoil it any.**

**There are some issues and concerns that I have received that I would also like to get off my chest now, feel free to skip this and simply hit the review button to exit, though it may answer a question for you as well.**

**This is also a major crossroad of Verto's story. The end of the Buu Saga was meant to basically be the end of part 1 of Verto's life, and it turned into so much more once I started brainstorming enough and bringing the Zerg idea in. Think of it being similar to the Matrix where movie 1 was the birth of the hero and the other two movies were the life of the hero. Well Sagas 1-5 are technically the end of the birth of the hero era. The Sagas that follow are the life of the hero era, hopefully you enjoy them just as much. This pretty much ends the Starcraft crossover though, which I take plenty of credit in having been the first to mix it with DBZ. Now this story will turn back to more of a purely DBZ atmosphere with some added goodies. And hopefully my creativity doesn't wane too much as I come up with new ideas and tie in some loose ends. **

**One rant I see a lot from others regarding original characters in other stories is that the OC will turn ultra badass and whip all the bad guys without breaking a sweat while Goku gets pounded, or something like that. Also that the said character would attract all the women and such, basically whatever fantasy grabs that author. I do not in any way plan on making that kind of character. There might be aspects of this here and there, but every story has it somewhere. Will Verto always save the day, no. Will he score with every chick, certainly not, hell he's a kid right now. Even my imagination isn't that deranged (I seriously got this question more than once in a chat session or two). The character I am portraying isn't the happy-go-lucky Goku, or the chick magnet Gohan, or even the next self insert chick that scores with Trunks after two minutes. I aim for a semi-balanced character that has to make hard decisions and face the consequences for his actions. Verto is not going to have the "happily ever after" life, and a lot of it will not be happy at all. I won't keep things totally gloomy either, there will be plenty of comical material to lighten the mood. And the power level issue, he won't gain a substantial amount of power in a short time for a long while. It will be his abilities and strategy that will win most of his battles. The good stories don't always have a happy ending, and are riddled with tragedy and despair to make them more compelling. That should take care of that minor concern.**

**There is a question that I keep getting on Verto's involvement with what we know as DB GT, and I will take care of that question now. Without giving out any spoilers, I can safely say…NO. That doesn't mean anything as far as the characters and timeline go, but I will not write a GT remake. I don't have anything against GT's story, but it was way too short and the whole "Goku is a kid again" idea blew chunks, not to mention that all of the focus was on Goku, Trunks and Pan, PAN! Who is too much like Videl for her own good, yet not nearly as powerful as her family is. Another little thing that didn't make sense was that fact that Vegeta's daughter DOESN'T fight? What gives there? **

**And oh yes, that little thing with the actual fighting that lacked the extremely explosive details that Z had plenty of, example: SS4 Vegeta's ki blasts do absolutely nothing to Omega Shenron's face. No explosion, no deflection, no blemish, they just vanish, uh huh, right. I have plenty of beef with the little things that GT did or didn't have, but I'm not going to bore you to death with them, unless of course you page me on an instant messenger sometime (check profile). **

**That takes care of that Question and Answer/Rant session for the moment.**

**Until next time, which is when I finish Series 6, **_**Verto out**_**!**

_**P.S, this is the part where you hit the review button.**_


	66. Epilogue: The Demon

**I wish I owned DBZ, but I don't. I own DVD's and tapes, but it just isn't the same. I also don't own the rights to any of the music pieces you see selected, just copies of merchandise, such a shame. The artists that created them are geniuses and we all must bow to them. **

**Epilogue: The Demon**

"I advise caution Verto, this enemy is likely very powerful," Dabura suggested as we landed on the ground of hell.

"I figured that, but I'm ready for anything. The only question is who did this?" I asked as I glanced around at all of the bodies.

"I do not know, but anyone who can leave the dead in a coma is nothing to be trifled with. Perhaps the Kais or King Yemma may know, once we find them that is," Dabura said, standing over what appeared to be an old Frieza minion. I spotted the short and red Jeice not far away and scanned his energy as best as I could. I sensed that the ki level was very low, but there was a reason for it. The Psi energy that every soul possessed, no matter how low, was pretty much gone. There were trace amount left, along with a large stab wound in the side like whoever did this was trying to suck his guts out, it was as if whoever did this only drained Psi energy. His neck was also turned harshly to the side with his mouth gaping open, like it was broken.

"There is a possibility that it is Friez.." Dabura began as I cut him off.

"No, even he wouldn't do this, and I doubt he could. These stab wounds are very specific, and all of the Psi energy within them is gone. He doesn't have a clue on what Psi energy is, nor could he use it to his advantage. There is still a tiny amount of ki left. If they weren't already dead, I'd wonder how they were holding on," I explained, glancing around at the other motionless corpses. I still didn't sense any major presence yet, just a huge amount of tiny energy signals that represented this crowd of comatose villains.

"I don't sense you know who, so unless he's hiding his energy, there is a chance that he may have been defeated as well. I can't say I've ever seen anything like this before, not even from the Zerg. It's like their souls have been taken," I said, scanning around. I suddenly picked up a very small energy behind us, slightly higher than everything else. It took me a second to recognize it, but the scowl that appeared on my face didn't have anything on Dabura's.

"Hahahahaha! We meet again Dabura, this time you will pay for your betrayal!" the tiny wizard cackled.

"Babidi, you're looking shorter than usual. And I did not betray you; I was released from your absurd spell when Majin Buu killed us. Since then I have become much more powerful, I doubt you could control me ever again!" Dabura boasted.

"You brought that rotten monkey kid with you too! Ha! It doesn't matter, my newest minion will destroy you both. It may not be as powerful as Majin Buu…yet, but it will suffice!" he said in a cocky tone.

"That sounds familiar you little imp, I've already wiped out Buu's most powerful form and now I'm even stronger! Bring on your next crony Babidi, I'll tear him apart too!" I said now, oozing with confidence since completing my training.

"I have to agree with the boy, whatever this creature is, it does not have a chance!" Dabura said, a slight smirk returning to his face.

"I will teach you two respect! Kaa, get out here!" Babidi roared. Dabura's smirk melted off once he heard the name, but my expression remained the same for a moment.

"No, don't tell me you released _THAT_ demon!" Dabura asked in a shaky voice.

"Who the hell is that?" I asked. Dabura didn't answer, but I soon picked up a powerful energy surge behind a nearby hill, and it was only getting closer. I scanned it over and over before it appeared, getting a very strange signal back. It possessed a large amount of ki and a larger amount of Psi. It was the Psi signal that was strange, but it soon fit together, because it felt like it didn't belong to whatever this thing was, it wasn't its own. A large creature emerged and slowly walked towards us, its head looking like a sewn together skull with eyes. It's body looked to be in horrible shape, except for the large claw on its left arm. It appeared to be wrapped in bandages, and a few of the limbs looked to be lacking in body mass.

"Now go do something nasty to them!" Babidi screeched and pointed. This creature, Kaa, stopped where he was and his energy surged. First his ki rose to its what felt to be its maximum, which really wasn't anything worth mentioning. But then its Psi energy rose and then suddenly drained, and I felt added ki building up higher and higher. I swore I heard screams and other frightened voices in the air coming from a thin blue aura. All his Psi energy drained to nothing but residue, and his ki was much higher than it was before. What disturbed me though was the fact that I didn't sense a spirit within this creature, it was like it didn't possess one of its own and had instead taken the spirits of others, or at least their energy. _Oh man, how horrible, he ate their souls!_ Kaa wasn't done when he powered up, I felt his presence surge outward. It passed throughout the plains of hell and beyond and I sensed something even worse start to stir around us. I glanced down at Jeice as his body began to convulse just a bit, but then settled down as his lifeless eyes opened. He sat up and a feral growl escaped his throat. Others corpses around also began to stir and sit up, and most of them looked at us like a rabid dog.

"What the hell?" I dared to ask.

"It's one of that creature's powers, it's victims can be raised into mindless zombies. Be cautious, they may retain their original power given enough time," Dabura said, ready for a massive fight. Jeice's hungry eye locked on and he dove for my leg with drooling teeth ready for a meal. I kicked Jeice off, watching him fly into a crowd of Zombies that slowly advanced towards us, all of them moaning and groaning in hunger.

**A/N: There's my patented cliffhanger for you guys to chew on. There are a lot more things that happen in Series 6, but this is definitely one of the highlights.**


End file.
